APES AND MONKEYS. 305 



baboon in question could never refrain from tormenting, annoying, 

 and even ill-treating other animals. Our crabbed old badger-dog- 

 was lying comfortably in the sun enjoying his mid-day nap. The 

 baboon saw this, slipped quietly up to him, looked with a sly twinkle 

 of her little eyes into the dog's face to make sure that he was really 

 asleep, then suddenly seized the sleeper's tail and brought him back 

 with a violent pull from dreamland to reality. The dog angrily 

 rushed at the disturber of his peace to avenge the insult. But the 

 monkey escaped the threatened punishment with a single leap over 

 the advancing dog, and in the next instant she had seized the tail 

 and repeated the outrage, obviously enjoying the powerlessness of her 

 furious opponent, until the latter, almost beside himself with anger 

 and excitement, unable even to bark, but gasping and foaming, 

 tucked his tail between his legs and fled, leaving the enemy in 

 possession of the field. If the baboon could have laughed, the- 

 parallel between her behaviour and that of a mischievous boy would 

 have been complete. As it was, the scorn and ridicule with which 

 the vanquished dog was overwhelmed were intelligible enough.. 

 The baboon herself took teasing very ill, would even become furious 

 if laughed at by an unprivileged person, and never omitted to take 

 her revenge on the first opportunity, even if that should not occur 

 for weeks. But then she was a monkey, and felt herself such,, 

 therefore regarded a dog as a creature of a lower order, her inso- 

 lence towards which was as pardonable as that of every other 

 creature towards herself was reprehensible and worthy of punish- 

 ment. 



Of this self-esteem, or rather over-esteem, the dog-like monkeys- 

 give daily proofs to every careful observer. The baboon in ques- 

 tion, like all monkeys, was exceedingly fond of pets, and in particu- 

 lar of a long-tailed monkey which shared her cage, and could be 

 trusted even out of the cage with it, because it was always by the 

 baboon's side as if under a charm. It slept in her arms, and obeyed 

 her slavishly. The baboon expected such obedience and took it as- 

 a matter of course; but she demanded the most absolute subjection 

 at meal-times. While the good-natured and obedient long-tailed 

 monkey unresistingly allowed its foster-mother to pick out all the tit- 



(M70) 20 



