280 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



whose true rank in the creation, and, indeed, whose 

 real attributes, have been but lately ascertained and de- 

 termined. 



The Magot, or Barbary Ape, placed by our author at the 

 head of the baboons, is an animal not without intelli- 

 gence. It may be remarked, that this precious gift of na- 

 ture, which animals have received for the purposes of their 

 preservation, and to fix their rank in the universe, always 

 conduces in a state of natural liberty, to their welfare and 

 independence ; but on the contrary, under the government 

 of man, it too frequently becomes to them a fertile source 

 of misery and persecution. The voice of the shepherd is in 

 general sufficient to guide and conduct the unintelligent 

 sheep. Their limited faculties do not permit them to be em- 

 ployed in any way, when the intervention of harsher means 

 may be necessary, to enforce obedience. The whip is in 

 requisition, to awaken the intelligence and stimulate the 

 activity of the horse and dog, and man himself in the 

 degraded state of slavery, is subjected to similar instru- 

 ments of Education. It is to his intelligence that the 

 Magot owes the numberless torments inflicted upon him 

 by the mountebanks and show-men. Excepting the Orangs 

 and the Gibbons, he is the only monkey of the old Conti- 

 nent capable of receiving a certain degree of instruction. 

 The others, stupid or ferocious, were incapable in a state 

 of slavery of comprehending any thing ; but they have the 

 consequent advantage of preserving their repose, while 

 the Magot is constantly exposed to lose both his comfort 

 and freedom. 



Notwithstanding this, the male Magot only submits to 

 the dominion of man in extreme youth, and when his ac- 

 tive faculties have not yet acquired their complete force 

 and development. Arrived to adolescence he begins to be 

 less tractable, and in a short time, like the Macaques and 

 others of this sub-genus refuses submission of every kind. 



