6qo 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
and woe betide the unlucky hound, or the unwary hunter whom it once gets 
into its power, for it seems to unite the offensive armaments of the kangaroo, 
the bear, the lion and the elephant. 
The Baboons are the ugliest, the most ill-tempered, the fiercest, and the 
most repulsive of the monkey kingdom, so that it is no injustice to them that 
in popular language they have been used as the symbol of extreme ugliness, 
and thoroughly awkward and disagreeable behavior. In all ways they repre¬ 
sent anarchy as against good order, and flourish best where civilized man can 
flourish least. The muzzle looks as if truncated, or suddenly chopped off, and 
the nostrils are located in its very extremity. The baboon is as filthy and 
unseemly in its habits as in its appearance, so that altogether it is not exposed 
to the danger of having its head turned by becoming a popular favorite. 
The Ursine Baboon, Imfena, or Chacma (Cynocephalus porcarius ), has a 
front like that of a bear, is as large as a full-grown wolf, and more than a 
match for any number of or¬ 
dinary dogs. It is the most 
expert of plunderers, and 
sending two or three of its 
number into an orchard the 
rest will fall in line and 
the fruits stolen are passed 
on from hand to hand, until 
when enough has been 
gathered together, all will 
retire amicably to enjoy the 
plunder. They consider the 
laborer worthy of his hire, 
and hence make no objection 
to any quiet bites in which 
the line of battle may in¬ 
dulge while the fruit is 
passing through their hands. 
It is readily domesticated and 
is employed by the natives 
in hunting roots and in find¬ 
ing concealed supplies of water when the drought has been unusually severe. 
It is when tame very playful, and seems specially to delight in teasing any 
one whom it can frighten. In common with many monkeys it is fond of drink¬ 
ing strange mixtures and seems to have a natural appetite for ink. Many an 
amusing incident has happened to those who have had the chacma as a pet. 
When young it seems to be as playful and as light-hearted as a young child; 
it will pet puppies and other small animals, but handles them with the same 
disregard manifested by many a miss in her treatment of cats and dolls. If 
the animal is too persistent in its objections to such rough usage, the chacma 
will fling it away in disgust. The chacma is supposed under ordinary cir¬ 
cumstances to fill out two score years of age. The hunter’s dogs once dis¬ 
covered a baboon sitting in solitary grandeur upon an ant-heap. Driving him 
to bay, he seized the foremost dog and rent it into pieces. The hunter then 
threw his spear which stuck fast in a tree; whereupon the baboon plucked it 
CRESTED BABOON, OR BLACK MACAQUE. 
