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THE MAGOT. 
trees near rocks, and, therefore, they are not found in desert tracts or in deep woods. Formerly 
the Rock of Gibraltar was no doubt continuous with the range of hills far over the sea to the south, 
and there the Magot plundered (or, rather, took what Nature let him take; for man had not then 
come to disturb him) the fruit of Kabylia, Algiers, and Morocco. People have invented many methods 
by which the Magots could come from Barbary on to the Rock of Gibraltar : some believe in a 
subterranean passage, which is said still to enable the occasional visits of African relations to their 
European kindred ; and others, more practically inclined, believe that the Apes came over on board 
ship by stealth. Certain it is that the strong current through the Straits prevents anything from 
drifting from one side of them to the other. Some years since, some caves were opened and carefully 
examined in the Rock of Gibraltar, and the bones were found of kinds of Hyenas, of Rhinoceros, and 
THE MAGOT. 
of Elephants, all comparable with those still living on the African Continent. Now, such animals 
could not at the present time live on the Rock, but they might have done so when it was part of a 
country extending right away to Africa. Their bones were washed into valleys amongst the hills, 
and then they fell into deep fissures and became preserved; and this could only have taken place when 
there was much water in the neighbourhood ; and for there to be much water, the whole aspect of the 
country would have to be changed — to be extended far and wide where the sea now is. 
No Monkey bones were found ; but this is to be explained by noticing what occurs in India. 
There a dead Monkey is rarer than a dead Don key in England — so rare, indeed, that the natives believe 
that their fellow Monkeys bury them ; but the fact is there are plenty of beasts of prey ready to 
devour them, sick or dead, and therefore Monkey bones are very seldom found. 
It is probable, then, that the Magot, and many African and some European animals, lived in the 
south of Spain when the Peninsula was united to North Africa. It. has lasted longer than its great 
fellow-beasts, and still lingers there, but in greatly diminishing numbers. 
What they live upon on the Rock is rather a mystery, for there are no groves of fruit-trees 
17 
or 
