6 
THE MAMMALS OF EGYPT. 
Pythagoras s first acquaintance with this long-tailed monkey, so striking by reason 
of its rich colouring, was doubtless also the first occasion on which he had heard the 
term KtjTroc used. The similarity between it and the Greek word signifying “ a garden ” 
led him erroneously to imagine that the animal had been so named on account of 
the diversity and beauty of its colours; whilst it is supposed rather to be the Greek 
rendering of an ancient Egyptian word ‘ Kaf,’ meaning a long-tailed monkey, a term 
which has a remarkable resemblance to the Sanscrit word ‘ Kapi’^, also signifying 
a monkey; but which of these tongues is entitled to priority in point of age is a 
question it would be difficult to solve. The ancient Egyptians had, likewise, a special 
name for the baboons, some of which also have tails well-developed, although not so 
long as those of the ordinary monkeys of the Upper Nile province. The word ‘ Kaf,’ 
however, seems to have been applied indiscriminately to monkeys, including the 
baboons. That this is true of the latter is substantiated by the figure of a baboon, 
Papio hamadryas, Linn, {^vide Lepsius, Denkm. Abth. ii. Bl. 13, No. 86), in a tomb at 
the Pyramids of Gizeh, under which the hieroglyphic name ‘Kaf’ appears. 
About the time of Pythagoras the Phoenicians had circumnavigated Africa at the 
instigation and under the patronage of the Pharaoh Nekho. The expedition started 
from a port on the Ked Sea, and passing round the coast-line of the continent 
leturned by the Mediterranean to the mouths of the Nile. Moreover, the trading- 
exploits of that remarkable people had extended not only to the west of Africa but 
also to the east of Arabia. The A^essels that returned laden to the Mediterranean 
with the merchandise of foreign lands were manned by sailors doubtless with instincts 
much the same as those of the present day, so that we may rest assured they brought 
back with them to their respective ports examples of the animals from the countries 
they visited, more especially from the lands beyond the Red Sea, where, among apes, 
they would meet with the Yellow Baboon, and on the West Coast of Africa with 
the Drill and the Mandrill. The ships of Solomon, also, prior to this period, had 
sailed down the Red Sea and along the East-African coast to Tarshish—the modern 
Mombasa—bringing apes, among other strange animals. 
Aristotle (b.c. o 84), in his remarkable work on the Animal Kingdom had 
probably acquired his knowledge of the monkeys from specimens taken to Alexandria 
by the Phoenician navigators. The great historian’s attempted classification of the 
monkeys into three divisions, viz. ttiQ^koc, k^ttoc, KwoKecpnXoc, is not clearly defined, 
and the understanding of it is beset with many difficulties at the present time. The 
members of the first group had no tails, or merely rudimentary ones; and probablv 
Aristotle was familiar with others presenting this character besides the Barbary ape, 
1 Comp. Diet, of the Languages of India and High Asia, by W. W. Hunter, 1868, p. 140. 
2 Aristoteles Thierkunde, Aubert & Wimmer, 1868, i. pp. 71, 267 (lib. ii. c. 8). 
