THE DESCENT OB OBIGIN OF MAN 115 



taught an American monkey thus to break open hard palm- 

 nuts; and afterward, of its own accord, it used stones to 

 open other kinds of nuts, as well as boxes. It thus also 

 removed the soft rind of fruit that had a disagreeable flavor. 

 Another monkey was taught to open the lid of a large box 

 with a stick, and afterward it used the stick as a lever to 

 move heavy bodies ; and I have myself seen a young orang 

 put a stick into a crevice, slip his hand to the other end, 

 and use it in the proper manner as a lever. The tamed 

 elephants in India are well known to break off branches of 

 trees and use them to drive away the flies; and this same 

 act has been observed in an elephant in a state of nature."" 

 I have seen a young orang, when she thought she was going 

 to be whipped, cover and protect herself with a blanket or 

 straw. In these several- cases stones and sticks were em- 

 ployed as implements; but they are likewise used as weap- 

 ons. Brehm*° states, on the authority of the well-known 

 traveller, Schimper, that in Abyssinia when the baboons 

 belonging to one species (C gelada) descend in troops from 

 the mountains to plunder the fields, they sometimes en- 

 counter troops of another species {G. hamadryas), and then 

 a fight ensues. The Greladas roll down great stones, which 

 the Hamadryas try to avoid, and then both species, making 

 a great uproar, rush furiously against each other. Brehm, 

 when accompanying the Duke of Coburg-Gotha, aided in 

 an attack with firearms on a troop of baboons, in the pass 

 of Mensa in Abyssinia. The baboons in return rolled so 

 many stones down the mountain, some as large as a man's 

 head, that the attackers had to beat a hasty retreat, and the 

 pass was actually closed for a time against the caravan. It 

 deserves notice that these baboons thus acted in concert. 

 Mr. Wallace*' on three occasions saw female orangs, accom- 

 panied by their young, "breaking off branches and the great 

 spiny fruit of the Durian tree, with every appearance of 



as The "Indian Field," March 4, ISU. 



*» "Thierleben," B. i. a. 79, 82. 



« "The Malay Archipelago," voL i., 1869, p. 87. 



