ORDER QUADRUMANA. . 281 



Good treatment and bad, are equally without effect upon 

 him. Alike incapable of confidence and of fear, he 

 evinces nothing but a savage love of independence, which 

 appears to be his only want. The painful state into which 

 this feeling throws him, especially when it is strongly ex- 

 cited by severity, soon plunges him into a melancholy, 

 which is speedily followed by consumption and death. But, 

 if in his state of slavery, he is left to repose, he soon be- 

 comes accustomed to his situation, but loses all his natural 

 activity. Seated on his posteriors, with his arms leaning 

 on his knees, his hands pendent, he looks stupidly at what 

 is passing around 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. His vege- 

 tative functions still continue to operate, but wi.th the ex- 

 ception of sensation, every thing which depends upon intel- 

 ligence seems completely inoperative. For it holds equally 

 true of animals as of man, that the empire of thought 

 soon perishes, when the stimulus of sentiment is over. On 

 the other hand, in a state of liberty, the Magot is perhaps 

 one of those animals which combine to the highest degree, 

 vivacity and variety of desires and sentiments. He is dis- 

 tinguished for petulance of disposition, and for intelli- 

 gence the most active and penetrating. These qualities 

 united to the peculiar organization of the Magots, give 

 them a decided superiority over most other animals, and 

 render them almost absolute in the countries they inhabit. 

 Assembled in numerous troops, they cover the trees of the 

 forests, openly attack those enemies which they feel com- 

 petent to encounter, and by their number, and the inde- 

 fatigable reiteration of their cries, they repel such foes as 

 are really formidable. Their most dangerous adversaries 

 are cats of the middle size, who, possessing like themselves 

 the faculty of climbing, often surprise them in the silence 



