BLACK APE. 19 



than liberty ? Alike incapable, in his gloomy prison, of 

 confidence or of fear, he evinces nothing but a desire 

 to be free; and this appears to be his only want. The 

 painful state into which this feeling throws him, espe- 

 cailly when it is strongly excited by severity, soon pro- 

 duces a settled melancholy, which is generally followed 

 by consumption and death. If gentleness be used, he 

 becomes, indeed, accustomed to his prison, but loses all 

 his natural activity : he remains seated upon the ground, 

 his arms leaning on his knees, and his hands pendent ; 

 he looks stupidly at what is passing round him; and, 

 unless when occasionally drawn from this lethargy by 

 the pressing calls of nature, he appears to pass his life 

 in a sort of intermediate state between the existence of 

 animals and plants.* 



The usual dimensions of the Barbary ape are those 

 of a middle-sized dog, measuring from two feet to two 

 and a half in length. The outer surface of the body 

 and hmbs is of a light yellowish brown, deeper on the 

 head and round the cheeks: the under parts are whitish; 

 and the face, ears, and other naked parts are flesh- 

 coloured. The tail is so short as to appear more like 

 a tubercle; it is, in fact, but a short skinny process. 



The Black Ape. 



Cercocebus niger, Geoff. 



The uniform black colour which spreads over every 

 part of this species, distinguishes it at first sight from 

 all others of its own tribe. It is seldom seen alive in 

 Europe ; but two specimens have been recorded, of late 

 years, as living in En gland, — one in the Tower menagerie, 

 the other in that of the Zoological Society. So little is 

 known of its natural habits, that its native region is 

 even uncertain. M. Desmarest, who first described it 

 from a skin in the Paris Museum, was informed that it 

 came from one of the islands of the Indian Archi- 



* Griff. Cuv. 



