34 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



asleep, and seizing it by the neck, takes it to a stone, and 

 knocks its head against it till it is dead. It then throws 

 the snake to the young monkeys, who play with it as a 

 kitten does with a mouse killed by the old cat. It is re- 

 garded with great reverence by the natives, and receives 

 even divine honors from them. Splendid temples are 

 dedicated to these monkeys ; there are hospitals for their 

 treatment when sick ; fortunes are bequeathed for their 

 support ; and though the murder of a man is often pun- 

 ished only by a small fine, the killing of one of these mon- 

 keys is invariably punished with death. Thus cared for, 

 they abound in great numbers, and though they enter 

 houses to plunder eatables, their visits are regarded as a 

 great honor. 



49. The Proboscis Mon- 

 key, Fig. 1 4, so called from 

 the extraordinary projec- 

 tion of its nose, is a native 

 of Borneo. 



50. The baboons have 

 very short tails. Their 

 bodies are stout and thick- 

 set. The temper of most 

 of them is very ferocious, 

 and Cuvier says that he 

 has seen several of the Man- 

 drill species die of rage. 

 Those species of baboons 

 that live in Asia are of a 



much milder character than those found in Africa. There 

 is only one locality in Europe where any of the Pedimana 

 tribe are found, and that is the Rock of Gibraltar. One 

 species of the baboon, improperly called the Barbary Ape, 

 abounds there. It is probably not a native, but was orig- 

 inally introduced from the African side of the strait. 



51. It is a remarkable fact that the baboons are the 

 only Mammalia that exhibit bright colors upon their 



14. Proboscis Monkey. 



