MONKEYS OF THE OLD WORLD. 



353 



perhaps, into which they are not duly deposited. Several instances have 

 been noticed, in which the bones of all the limbs have been mere cartilage, 

 capable of being bent in any direction ; while the texture of the bones of 

 the skull has been so soft as to be little firmer than coarse blotting-paper ; 

 and, when macerated and dry, capable of being reduced to powder, by 

 rubbing between the fingers. This disease may be rationally imputed to 

 cold, innutritious food, and confinement, by which the vital energies of 

 die system become enfeebled. 



What extent of knowledge the Greeks and Romans had, respecting the 

 Simiadae, is not very easy to determine : still, however, though the Chim- 

 panzee, the Orangs, and Gibbons may be regarded as modern discoveries, 

 several species, at least, must have been well known ; especially those 

 tenanting continental India, and, still more so, those indigenous in the 

 north-western regions of Africa. Nearly 1000 years before the Christian 

 era, Apes were among the exports of India : Apes, ivory, and Peacocks, 

 together with gold and silver, were brought, we are told, by the ships 

 of Tarshish, to Solomon, as worthy the purchase or acceptance of the 

 monarch of Judea. (2 Chron. ix. 21.) 



Among the Egyptians,* the Ape was a sacred animal : figures of one 



or two species of large Baboon oc- 

 cur abundantly among the sculp- 

 tured emblems which decorate their 

 pillars and temples ; and are also 

 depicted on mummy-cases. From 

 the earliest ages to the present, 

 the Brahmins of India have held 

 one or more species (the Entellus 

 particularly) in reverence, as a 

 sort of deity ; nor, among the en- 

 lightened inhabitants of our western 

 world, have there been wanting 

 those who, arrogating to them- 



Monkey represented on an Egyptian tomb. Selves the name of philosophers 



have regarded, or pretended to regard, these animals t as but one stej. 

 removed (and that not insurmountable) from the human race. The annexed 

 figure (245) is an outline of a Monkey, represented on an Egyptian tomb : 

 it is, apparently, a Cercopithecus. 



245 



* " Quis nescit, Volusi Bithynice, qualia demens 

 ^gyptus portenta colat ? Crocodilon adorat 

 Pars haec : ilia pavet saturara serpentibus Ibim : 

 Effigies sacri nitet aurea Cercopitheci." 



Juv. Sat. xv. 



You enter, says Lucian, into a magnificent temple, every part of which glitters with gold and silver. 

 There you look attentively for a god, and are cheated with a Stork, an Ape, or a Cat. 



