VII MONKEYS-AFFINITIES AND DISTRIBUTION 157 



found out of Africa. This species was known to the 

 ancients, and it is often represented in Egyptian sculp- 

 tures, while mummies of it have been found in the cata- 

 combs. The largest and most remarkable of all the baboons 

 is the Mandrill of West Africa, whose swollen and hog- 

 like face is ornamented with stripes of vivid blue and 

 scarlet. This animal has a tail scarcely two inches long, 

 while in size and strength it is not much inferior to the 

 gorilla. These large baboons go in bands, and are said to 

 be a match for any other animals in the African forests, 

 and even to attack and drive away the elephants from the 

 districts they inhabit. The baboons differ from almost all 

 the rest of the monkey-tribe in being terrestrial rather 

 than arboreal in their habits, though many of them can, 

 and do, climb trees with great ease. They inhabit mostly 

 open rocky country or among scattered trees rather than 

 the dense forests, and their food consists of fruits and 

 roots, as well as of reptiles, insects, and probably young 

 ground-birds and mammals. They thus seem to*^ be a 

 special adaptation to the plateaus and open country of 

 which so much of Africa consists, while the man- like apes 

 and more active monkeys are equally well adapted to the 

 tropical forests. 



Asiatic Monkeys. 



Turning now to Asia, we have first one of the best 

 known of the large man-like apes — the Orang-utan, found 

 only in the two large islands, Borneo and Sumatra. The 

 name is Malay, signifying " man of the woods," and it 

 should be pronounced (5rang-6otan, the accent being on 

 the first syllable of both words. It is a very curious cir- 

 cumstance that, whereas the gorilla and chimpanzee are 

 both black, like the negroes of the same country, the 

 orang-utan is red or reddish-brown, closely resembling the 

 colour of the Malays and Dyaks who live in the Bornean 

 forests. Though very large and powerful, it is a harmless 

 creature, feeding on fruit, and never attacking any other 

 animal except in self-defence. A full-grown male orang- 

 utan is rather more than four feet high, but with a body 



