APE 
APE 
fours; though, as their chief refidence is among 
trees, they are without doubt feen ere6t while climb- 
ing: but it appears highly probable that, when 
they employ every effort to elcape, they make ufe 
of the united aids of their hands and feet. Schou- 
ter, who mentions their education, tells us that they 
are caught in traps, and taught at firft to walk on 
their hind-legs ; which certainly implies his opi- 
nion to be, that they walk on all-fours in their na- 
tural ftate : and, on examining the palms of their 
hands, and the . foles of their feet, we find both 
equally callous and beaten ; an inconteftible proof 
that both have been equally ufed. In thofe fervid 
climes which give birth to the Ape tribes, the feet 
of the negroes are covered with a fkin above an 
inch thick, while their hands are as loft as thole of 
Europeans ; and, if the Apes walked in the fame 
manner, they Avould doubtlefs have been fur- 
niflied with fimilar advantages. Befides thefe ana- 
logical conclufions, we have the authority of fome 
very refpe£lable travellers in their fupport : who in- 
form us, that thefe animals run on all-fours in the 
woods ; and that, when they are taken, their hands 
are tied behind them, to teach them to walk ere6t. 
This attitude becomins; in Ibme meafure natural to 
them, after a proper period of inftruftion, they 
are lent into Europe, thus trained, to aftonifli 
fpeculative philofophers with their near approaches 
to humanity ; little or no regard being in general 
paid to the difcrimination of what is natural in the 
animals, and what they have acquii-ed in the favage 
fchools of Angola and Benin. 
Ape, Pigmy. This animal has a flattifh face, 
with ears ftrongly rel'embling thole of the human 
lipecies. The body is about the fize of a cat's ; the 
colour of the hair being an olive brown, with a yel- 
lowifli tinge beneath. Thefe animals are gregari- 
ous, and feed on fruits and infefts ; particularly ants, 
of which they are fo remarkably fond, diat they turn 
over every ftone in fearch of them. When attacked 
by wild beafts, they betake themfelvesto flight; and, 
if they happen to be overtaken, boldly face their pur- 
fuers, flinging the fubtile fand of the defart in their 
eyes, fo as often to effeft their efcape. They inha- 
bit Africa; and are frequently exhibited among our 
colle£lions of foreign animals : they are docile, and 
of a gentle difpofition, and appear to be the Pig- 
mies of antiquity. In ^Ethiopia, one feat of that 
imaginary nation, they are extremely numerous. 
The ancients had many ridiculous legends refp?<5^- 
ing thefe Pigmies ; whom they defcribed as a peo- 
ple refiding near the fountains of the Nile, and re- 
prefented as annually levying war againft the cranes; 
(that is, to ileal their eggs;) and hence the fiftion 
of their combats. None of the ancients, however, 
have ventured to alTert, as from their own know- 
ledge, that fuch a nation ever exifted: Strabo ju- 
dicioufly" remarks, that the account of them refts 
folely on report; and Ariftotle ipeaks of them only 
by hearfay, when he informs us, that they rode 
on goats, rams, and even birds of no very confider- 
able fize. The Indians, taking advantage of vul- 
var credulity, fometimes embalmed this fpecies of 
Ape, and fold them as real Pigmies ; and of this 
kind, unqtieftionably, were the diminutive mortals 
mentioned by GrofTe, which he tells us were found 
in the forefl:s of the Carnatic. 
Ape, Long-Armed. This animal, to which 
Buffon gives the name of the gibbon, is a very 
extraordinary and remarkable creature. It is of 
different fizes, being from two to four feet in fta- 
ture. It's face, which refembles that of a man, has 
a circle of bufliy hair all round ; it's eyes are large, 
and are funk in their fockets ; it's features are much 
tanned; and it's ears are well-proportioned. It 
walks ereft, and is deftitute of a tail ; the nails on 
the fingers are flat, thole on the toes being remark- 
ably long. But it chiefly differs from all others of 
the Ape tribes in the extraordinary length of it's 
arms, which are long enough to reach the ground 
when the animal ftands ere6t ; ib that it can walk 
on all-fours, and at the fame time preferve it's up- 
right pofture. This animal, next to the ourang 
outang, has the flrrongeft refemblance to mankind, 
not only in it's figure and conformation, but in it's 
docility and gentlenefs of manners. 
The Long-Armed Ape, of which there is a 
greater and a lefl^er fpecies, is a native of the Eaft 
Indies, and particularly found along the coaft of 
Coromandel. In the forefts of Devat, in the in- 
terior parts of Bengal, it grows to the height of a 
man, and is there called jolok. It is alio found 
in Malacca, the Molucca ifles, and in Sumatra; 
where hundreds may be feen togedier on the tops 
of the trees. 
The great black Ape of Mangfi, a province of 
China, and mentioned by Du Halde, is probably 
of this fpecies. Sir Afhton Lever has a fpecimen 
in excellent prefervation ; the body of which is 
covered with very long foft hair, and the hands 
reach quite to the ground. The height of the ani- 
mal is three feet. 
Ape, Barbary. This fpecies, which Buffon 
diflinguiflies by the name of the magot, is wholly 
deftitute of a tail, though it has a fmall protube- 
rance on it's large, red, and callous rump. The 
face is peculiarly prominent, and far more like thas 
of a quadruped than of a man. The body is co- 
vered with a dirty greenifli brown hair, that on 
the belly being of a dull pale yellow. It has flat 
nails, ears like the human race, and bare buttocks. 
It generally grows to about four feet in height; 
and inhabits many parts of India and Arabia; as well 
as the whole continent of Africa, except Egypt, 
where none of this kind have ever been difcovered. 
Thefe animals, as they recede from the human 
form in conformation and figure, appear alfo veiy 
different in their difpofitions ; being fullen, vicious, 
and untraftable. They are frequently exhibited 
in Europe; and, by mere force of difcipline, are 
brought to perform feveral tricks: but they arc 
naturally unamiable in all their manners. In the 
open country of Indoftan,they foirietimes aflfem.ble 
in great numbers ; and they often attack the women 
going to market, and rob them of their provifions. 
The females of tliis fpecies carry their young in 
their arms; and, though thus encumbered, leap 
with fiirprizing agility from tree to tree. 
Some favage nations regarding thefe animals 
as their principal divinities, have erefted the 
moft magnificent temples to their honour; and 
v/hen thePortuguefe plundered a religious ftrufture 
of this kind in Ceylon, they are faid to have found 
the tooth of an Ape in a Imall golden cafket, which 
was held by the natives in fuch extraordinary ve- 
neration, that they offered 700,000 ducats for it's 
redemption: but the equally fuperftitious viceroy 
refufed this advantageous offer for his country; in- 
fifting that it fliould be burnt, in order to check 
the progrefs of idolatry. 
Ape, Tufted. The head of this animal is four- 
teen inches long; the face being blueifh and naked, 
and thenofeof a deep red colour. The eye-brows are 
black, and the ears are fonned like thofe organs 
in. 
