The Babuu2<!S. MAilMALIA. The Deuuiab. 37 
When thus engaged he would sit in his chair with his 
pot of porter in one hand, and no doubt he would have 
been as indignant as little Tony Weller, had he been 
offered a pint instead of his customary allowance. This 
mandrill bore the appropriate name of Happy Jerry, 
and his reputation was so wide-spread that he was 
actually honoured with an invitation to Windsor Castle 
from his Majesty George IV. 
THE DRILL {Papio leucoplimus) is another species 
of short-tailed baboon very nearly allied to the man- 
drill, and, like it, an inhabita,pt of the Guinea coast. It 
is rather smaller than the preceding species ; its fur is 
of a more greenish colour ; the sides of the muzzle are 
less protuberant, and the skin of the face is entirely 
black. It was originally described as a distinct species 
by Pennant, under the name of the Wood Baboon ; but 
little or nothing is yet known of its habits in a state 
of nature, although in these it probably resembles the 
mandrill. 
THE CHACMA {Cynocephalus porcarius) belongs to 
another genus of baboons, in which the tail is of 
moderate length. The chacma is the largest species 
of this genus, equalling a large mastiff in size and form, 
exceeding it in robustness and strength. It is of an 
olive-black on the back, with the sides and belly paler ; 
the whiskers are greyish and the face brown. It is an 
inbabitant of the Cape of Good Hope, where it lives in 
the mountains amongst the rocks in troops of three or 
four hundred together. Travellers through the passes 
of the Cape Mountains describe the noise made by the 
baboons, when they see the loaded waggons intruding 
upon their territory, as something terrific ; and should 
the travellers outspan for the night in the vicinity of 
their habitations, the 3'ells and bowlings of the baboons 
are kept up all night, so as eflectually to scare sleep 
from the intruders’ eyelids, and make them long for the 
first dawn of day to recommence their toilsome march. 
Sometimes, however, it would appear that the baboons 
take matters more quietly, sitting peaceably on the 
summits of the rocks and gazing down upon the train 
of waggons ; should the}' be within reach of the rifles 
of the travellers thej' scramble away immediately, 
climbing up the faces of nearly perpendicular rocks, by 
the help of certain creeping plants which, in many 
places, form a network over the rocks, and from the 
use to which the baboons put them, are called by the 
boors Monkeys' ladders. Their movements under such 
circumstances are said to be indescribably amusing, 
but they cannot always be observed in safety ; for the 
baboons sometimes attack travellers by throwing stones 
down upon them. 
The food of the chacma, like that of the other 
baboons, consists parti}' of fruits and roots, and partly 
of animal substances, such as insects, lizards, and the 
eggs of birds. In search of vegetable aliments, the 
troops often descend into the cultivated districts, where 
they do great damage. From this circumstance, 
coupled with their ferocity and other evil qualities, the 
chacmas are regarded with much antipathy by the 
Cape boors, and this feeling appears even to be shared 
by the dogs; for we are told that there is no other 
animal which they attack so readily, or with so much 
determination. Such are the strength and ferocity of 
the chacma, however, that some of the dogs generally 
pay dearly for their temerity, and the boors would 
almost prefer setting their dogs upon a lion, to letting 
them go in pursuit of one of these animals. Even the 
leopard, which inhabits the same districts as this 
powerful baboon, and feeds principally upon the females 
and young males of the chacma, often meets with a 
disappointment when he ventures upon an old male. 
Notwithstanding these bad qualities the young 
chacmas are often domesticated at the Cape, when 
they are said to show great docility, and to fulfil the 
important office of keeping guard and giving notice of 
the approach of a stranger as well as or better than a 
dog. They are also trained to perform some other 
useful duties. Sometimes a smith will be seen with a 
chacma attending to his fire, or a peasant committing 
the guidance of his oxen to one of these animals ; but 
in whatever way they may be employed, they require 
to be always under the eye of the master. They are 
also noted for the sagacity with which they reject any 
unwholesome food, so that a Hottentot will never touch 
anything that has been refused by a chacma. This 
renders it exceedingly difficult to poison them, and 
M. Pucheran mentions a case in which one of these 
animals actually abstained for ten days from touching 
some poisoned food which had been prepared to kill 
him. From the account given by M. Le Vailiant of 
one of these baboons which was in his possession in 
Africa, they would appear to be good-tempered, amus- 
ing, and even affectionate ; but these good qualities in 
all probability wear off in course of time, as the adult 
specimens which have been kept in menageries in 
Europe, have exhibited all the ferocity and other dis- 
gusting qualities of their congeners. 
THE D'EKKlhS, {Cynocephalus Hamadryas). Several 
species of baboons are found abundantly in the north- 
eastern part of the African continent, in Nubia, Abys- 
sinia, and even in the mountains of Arabia. Amongst 
these the most celebrated is the derrias, a large species, 
standing about four feet in height when erect, which is 
remarkable from its having the whole fore part of the 
body, as far as the loins, covered with long shaggy hair, 
whilst that of the hinder quarters is short , so that the 
creature has not unaptly been compared to a clipped 
French poodle. In its habits the derrias closely resem- 
bles the preceding species. 
By some writers this is considered to be the ape 
Thotli, so commonly represented upon Egyptian monu- 
ments, usually in a sitting posture, but variously em- 
ployed. He was the emblem of Hermes (Thoth) the 
inventor of letters and of the art of writing, and Hora- 
pollon, an ancient author, relates that whenever one of 
these baboons was brought to the temples, he was met 
by a priest who presented him with tablets and pen and 
ink, to ascertain whether he really belonged to the 
family of those who understood writing.* Subsequently 
the thoth appears to have become the symbol of the 
supreme judge of the souls of men; and in this capacity 
he is frequently represented with a pair of scales, in 
which the good and bad actions of those before him 
* This may remind our readers of the story in the “Thou- 
sand and One Niglits,” in which a prince, metamorphosed into 
an ape, discovers his human quality by writing. 
