198 THE NATURAL HISTORY OP 



oecame necessary to chain him at the door of a court. 

 There he performed the office of a watch-dog, and 

 very soon became the terror even of his keepers. From 

 his ferocity, his master was . obliged to get rid of him. 



F. Cuvier relates another instance of ferocity in a 

 specimen kept in the Jardin du Hoi. This animal 

 made his escape from his cage to the enclosure in 

 which he was confined. His keeper imprudently 

 threatened him with a stick, which so enraged the 

 animal that he darted upon him, and before the man's 

 release could be affected, wounded him so severely on 

 the thigh as to put his life in danger. Nor could 

 every endeavour prevail on the animal to return to his 

 confinement, until his rage was again roused by the 

 following expedient. The keeper's daughter often 

 Supplied him with food, and seemed a great favourite. 

 She placed herself at a door opposite that of the cage 

 through which the animal had to pass, and a stranger 

 appearing to caress her, the chacma darted upon him, 

 but was secured before he could pass through his 

 cage. 



The Chacma is a native of Africa, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Cape of Good Hope. The colour is of 

 a greenish or grayish-black, paler upon the fore part 

 of the shoulders and flanks. The neck is clothed 

 with long hair, in the form of a mane, which has fur- 

 nished Geoffroy with a character for the name he has 

 attached. The skin of the face and extremities are of 

 a purplish-black, relieved around the eyes by a paler 



