^ T H E P I G M Y. Ill 



Cape the manners and difpofitions of Maurita- 

 nian pigmies. 



The pigmy, the Barbary ape, and the baboon, 

 were known to the ancients ; thefe animals are 

 found in Afia Minor, Arabia, Upper Egypt, and 

 [ in all the nortliern parts of Africa. Hence this 

 I pafiage of Marmol may be applied to all the 

 ' three. But it correfponds not with the baboon ; 

 for it mentions, that thefe apes have no tails. 

 Neither is it the Barbary ape, but the pigmy, of 

 which this author treats ; for the Barbary ape 

 is not eafily tamed, and, inftead of four or five, 

 it generally produces only two young. But the 

 pigmy, being Imaller, fliould produce a greater 

 number. Befides, it is milder and more docile 

 than the Barbary ape, which is never perfeiflly 

 tamed. For thele reafons, I am convinced that 

 it is not the Barbary ape, but the pigmy, to v^rhich 

 ^.the paffage in the above author ought to be ap- 

 plied. The fame remark is applicable to a paf- 

 fage of Rubruquis ; when mentioning the apes 

 of Cathay, he fays, ' That, in every article, 

 ' * they are fafliioned like man. . . . That they 

 ' are more than a foot and a half high, and all 

 ' covered with hair ; that they live in caverns ; 

 * that, in order to feize them, the natives put 

 ' ftrong inebriating liquors in the caverns they 

 ' frequent ; . . . that they aflemble together to 

 ' drink thefe liquors, crying c/j/«i:/j/«, from which 

 ' they have obtained the name oi chinchin ; and 

 ' that, after intoxicating thcmfelves, they fall 



' afleep, 



