T H E P I G M Y. 109 



the common appellation of ape, even in lan- 

 iri'.aces which have one name for apes without 

 tails, and another for thofe which have tails. In 

 German, both the pigmy and Barbary ape are 

 called aff, and ape in Englifli. It is only in the 

 Greek language that each of thefe animals has a 

 proper name. Cynocephalus is rather an adjec- 

 tive than a proper fubftantive ; and for that rea- 

 fonwe have not adopted it. 



From the teftimony of the ancients, it appears, 

 that the pigmy is more mild and docile than all 

 the other apes with which they were acquainted, 

 and that it was common in Afia, as well as in 

 Lybia, and other provinces of Africa which 

 were frequented by the Greek and Roman tra- 

 vellers. Hence I prefume that the following 

 paflages of Leo Africanus and Marmol ought to 

 be applied to the pigmy. They tell us, that the 

 apes with long tails, which are fliown in Mau- 

 ritania, and which the Africans call mones^ come 

 from the Negro country ; but that the apes with- 

 out tails are natives, and very numerous in the 

 mountains of Mauritania, Bugia, and Conftan- 

 tlna : ' They have,' fays Marmol, ' the feet, the 



* hands, and the countenance of a man, and are 

 ' extremely malicious and full of fpirit. They 

 ' live upon herbs, corn, and all kinds of fruits. 

 ' They go in troops into the gardens or fields ; 



* but, before they leave the thickets, one of them 



* afcends an eminence, from which he views the 

 ' country ; and, when he fees no perfon,^ he 



' gives 



