126 
NATURAL 1L1S TORY. 
plantations to be robbed, but only roots and bulbs to be dug up. Perhaps it is this spare diet which 
restricts their numbers and causes them to be very watchful. It is notorious that they are rarely 
approached, but sometimes they are trapped, or seduced into mischief, which ends in captivity. All 
kinds of stories are told at Gibraltar, and by most of those who have resided there, of the acts and 
deeds of the Pock Monkeys. Once upon a time, a strong party of these Apes, headed by an old male, 
who had grown grey in audaeitv and mischief, were always stealing and ruining the belongings of a certain 
regiment in garrison, and at last the annoyance became so great that it was determined to catch the 
ringleader, if possible* The men caught him, and shaved his head and face, and then they let him go. 
Away he scampered to his party, who had been watching for him at a distance, eager, no doubt, to 
place himself at their head again and lead them to vengeance. He was received with a volley of sticks 
and stones by his own troops, who treated him so roughly that lie had to fly for his life, in this 
deplorable and degraded state, lie was fain to sneak back to his old enemies, the — th regiment, and 
presented himself at their quarters, so woe -begone and with such a rueful visage, “ all shaven and shorn,” 
that there was no resenting the appeal. Broderip says : “ He was ad- 
mitted, and remained with his new allies, whom lie served with fidelity, 
upon the principle that secures the faith of other allies — because he 
couldn’t help it.” It is said in one of the stories of the great siege 
that the Monkeys saved Gibraltar as the Geese saved Home, for the 
Spaniards attempted to surprise the place a few weeks before the regular 
siege commenced; but, fortunately for the British, the attacking party 
had to pass where a number of these Magots had collected. Both parties 
were startled at the noise, but the British were put on their guard, 
and the old fort was thoroughly ready for the enemy. General Elliot, 
afterwards Lord Heatliiield, never suffered the Apes to be molested 
or taken; but one had been made prisoner previously to the time of 
his being made Governor of Gibraltar, and was kept chained in Ills 
yard. Another Monkey, who had apparently fallen from a rock, had 
been picked up by one of the Gen&ral’s aides-de-camp and conducted to 
the same place. Nothing could be more striking than the meeting of the 
pair. It was evidently the recognition of two old friends or relatives. 
After contemplating each other for a few seconds, they rushed into each other’s arms, then pushed 
each other a little back, as if to make sure of the recognition, and, after a second mutual examina- 
tion, again clasped each other to their breasts. 
The Magots, like all other Monkeys, are playful, affectionate, and gentle, when young, to those 
whom they know, but they become cross and vicious with age, and are generally greatly brutalised by 
their masters — in fact, brought to the same level. 
The absence of a tail makes the Magot look very baboonish, and this appearance is not lost when the 
animal is dissected, and the skull is examined. This is much less animal-looking than that of any one of 
the Baboons, for it has not so much face, and the front of it is not so disfigured with ridges and swellings. 
But the forehead is “villainous low,” and there are well-marked ridges over the orbits, the skull not 
rising behind them; and, as a matter of course, the brain case is flat, the brain itself being low in 
height. The palate is narrow and long, the face is flat, and the chin recedes. There is a capital set 
of teeth, and the last grinders of the lower jaw (third molars) have their fifth cusp, or tubercle, 
subdivided by two side-slits. In this, and in the tail, which is excessively rudimentary, and only 
has three bones, or vertebra*, the Magot departs from the usual form of the Macaques as a genus. The 
sutures of the face and skull — that is to say, the joinings between the bones— are soon obliterated in 
this animal ; and it appears to have the nose (nasal) bones joined in one at an early age, thus 
resembling the Baboon and the carnivorous animals. 
So many tricks are taught these clever Magots, and with such ease, that one would expect tc 
find a fairly-developed brain ; but an examination of one shows that it is hollowed beneath and narrow 
in front, whilst it is broad behind, and extending well back, and covering the Cerebellum. 
Their special muscular structures resemble those of the other Inui, and even their stump of a tail 
has the muscles which are common to those of all Monkeys, but which in this instance arc useless. 
