THE ANUBIS BABOON. 
149 
retocxmding from the wires he escaped it by straddling his legs. Then he came to the side and scolded 
much, and looked much put out. He soon forgave the injury, and submitted to having his back 
scratched with pleasure. Then the greengage was offered again, and before he could take it the fruit 
was presented to a Baboon in the next compartment. This led to the same result — a rush off to the 
end of the cage, a rummage for the pot, and a very good throw with both the hands. At length, 
when he had the fruit given to him he was perfectly content. His looks at the lady were certainly 
cross and angry enough. Evidently there is a good power of aiming, and as the object is thrown 
as the Baboon is moving it receives a considerable impetus. 
The Sphinx Baboon, or Cynocephalus sphinx , inhabits Guinea, and is commonly seen in mena- 
geries, and stuffed in museums. As old age comes on its character alters as well as its asi3ect of 
coimtenance ; it ceases to be familiar and becomes morose and ferocious. The skull of the Sphinx 
Baboon resembles, to a certain degree, that of the Hamadryas Baboon, but the orbits are decidedly 
oblique. There is the same filling up of the upper jaw-bones, and the cheek-bones do not project 
very much. 
THE ANUBIS BABOON * 
These Baboons live a very peculiar life in the neighbourhood of Angola, a Portuguese settlement 
on the western coast of Africa. Instead of delighting in the dense woods and glades of the 
tropical country close by, where fruit, nuts, and roots exist in 
vast abundance, and where water is most plentiful, they prefer 
to inhabit a hilly district which is much cut up in all directions 
by deep dry gullies, and grand rocky ravines. The country is 
badly supplied with vegetation, and water is very scarce. There 
are a few prickly shrubs, a few roots of grass, and certain kinds 
of thick club-stemmed dwarf shrubs all bearing a few leaves, 
only during the few months of the year in which rain falls. 
During the rest of the year nothing is seen but bare rock and 
scorched leafless firewood. At distances far apart, water only 
exists in deep dry gullies under the sand. In the neighbourhood 
of the rivers on that part of the coast vegetation is most luxu- 
riant, but the Monkeys prefer the arid country, living principally 
on the root and stem of one of the most extraordinary plants 
in the world — the Welwitschia. 
Tlie dog-like jaws of these Apes are very useful in gnawing the exposed roots of these plants, 
and they manage to nibble them just as a Sheep does a turnip. When thirsty they seek for water, 
and in company with Zebras and other animals excavate or scrape holes in the sand until it is found 
over the hard sub-rock. 
The} are very wary, and usually assemble in troops of fifteen or more, and when they move 
about they send forward one or two wlio act as scouts, and give signals to the main body about 
what is going on in front. Some time since a man opened a well at some copper-mines on the hills, 
and he soon found that the Baboons knew what he had done, for they came down to drink in bodies 
of thirty or forty. 
They run very fast and on all-fours in a kind of sideway gallop, and the little ones ride on 
the backs of their dams, holding very tight and safely. It appears that there is some discipline going 
on amongst them when they are in bodies, for if a scout should happen not to signal danger or 
whatever is interesting to the whole band, the rest set upon him, and give him a good thrashing? 
Some similar or perhaps the same kind of Baboon lives a more pleasant life than these in another 
district in the neighbourhood of Angola. There are some most extraordinary rocks which are 
situated some two hundred or more miles in the interior, and were mentioned more than two 
centuries ago in the books of missionaries and other travellers as great wonders of nature. They are 
the Black Rocks ot Pungo Andongo. These rocks, rising on the outskirts of a district celebrated for 
SKI LL or THE ANUBIS BABOON. 
20 
Cynocephalus anubis. 
