extremely retired and wary; and the young alone have fallen into the hands of Europeans in modern times. Great exaggeration prevails in the narratives of all the earlier travellers regarding the sagacity of this singular animal. Its external figure and general conformation no doubt greatly resemble those of the human race, and hence its actions have to us much of the semblance of human wisdom. But a remarkable circumstance in the mental constitution of this tribe of animals disproves their fancied alliance to mankind: the young are gentle, obedient, and extremely docile, but as they increase in years their dispositions undergo a striking change, and their truly brutal na

*The accompanying plate represents a group of African animals-In front, in the centre, the Rhinoceros;-to the right, the Hippopotamus and Orang-outang: in the centre background, the Giraffe ;-to the left, Antelopes and Zebra.

ture is evinced by an unusual degree of untractable ferocity. In the wild state they are inferior both to the dog and the elephant in sagacity, although their analogous structure never fails to impress the beholder with a belief that they resemble man in mental character as well as in corporeal form. Two species of African orang-outang seem to have been described by the earlier writers. These were probably the young and old of the same species seen apart at different times, for later researches do not lead to the belief of there being more than one.

"The greatest of these two monsters," says Battell, "is called pongo in their language; and the less is called engeco. This pongo is exactly proportioned like a man; but he is more like a giant in stature; for he is very tall, and hath a man's face, hollow-eyed, with long hair upon his brows. His face and ears are without hair, and his hands also. His body is full of hair, but not very thick, and it is of a dunnish colour. He differeth not from a man but in his legs, for they have no calf. He goeth always upon his legs, and carrieth his hands clasped on the nape of his neck when he goeth upon the ground. They sleep in the trees, and build shelters from the rain. They feed upon fruit that they find in the woods, and upon nuts; for they eat no kind of flesh. They cannot speak, and appear to have no more understanding than a beast. The people of the country, when they travel in the woods, make fires where they sleep in the night; and in the morning, when they are gone, the pongos will come and sit about the fire till it goeth out; for they have no understanding to lay the wood together, or any means to light it. They go many together, and often kill the negroes that travel in the woods. Many times they fall upon the elephants which come to feed where they be, and so beat them with their clubbed fists, and with pieces of wood, that they will run roaring away from them. Those pongos are seldom or never taken alive, because they are so strong that ten men cannot hold one of them; but yet they take many of their young ones with poisoned arrows. The young pongo hangeth on his mother's belly, with his hands fast clasped about her; so that, when the country people kill any of the females, they take the one which hangeth fast upon its mother, and, being thus domesticated and trained up from their infant state, become extremely familiar and tame, and are found useful in many employments about the house."

Purchas informs us, on the authority of a personal conversation with Battell, that a pongo on one occasion carried off a young negro, who lived for an entire season in the society of

these animals; that, on his return, the negro stated they had never injured him, but, on the contrary, were greatly delighted with his company; and that the females especially showed a great predilection for him, and not only brought him abundance of nuts and wild fruits, but carefully and courageously defended him from the attacks of serpents and beasts of prey.

With the exception of such information as has been drawn from the observance of one or two young individuals sent alive to Europe, our knowledge of this species has not increased. We have become aware of the inaccuracy and exaggeration of previous statements, but have not ourselves succeeded in filling up the picture. It is indeed singular that when the history of animals inhabiting New Holland, or the most distant islands of the Indian Ocean, are annually receiving so much new and correct illustration, the most remarkable species of the brute creation, inhabiting a comparatively neighbouring country, should have remained for about 2000 years under the shade of an almost fabulous name, and that the "wild man of the woods," should express all we yet really know of the African orang-outang in the adult state.

Africa produces many other species of the monkey tribe. The promontory most familiar to the Mediterranean voyager, called Apes' Mountain, not far from the opposing point of Gibraltar, is so called from the occurrence of these animals; and the rock of the last-named fortress is itself the only stronghold which they possess in Europe. They do not, however, occur in desert countries, commonly so called; that is, the open sandy plains of Africa are altogether unfitted for the dwellings of these pigmy people. Apes of all kinds are a sylvan race. Their structure being such as to render them unfit for the exercise of rapid movements, either on all-fours or in an upright position, the inclined and densely-intermingled branches of trees are their favourite places of resort. Their feet in climbing being equally useful with their hands, great additional power and activity are thus derived. Among the shady and otherwise unpeopled arbours which skirt the banks of the yet mysterious rivers of Africa, they dwell in single pairs or in congregated troops, according to the instincts of each particular kind; and seated on the tops of ancient trees, or swinging from pendant boughs, they play their fantastic tricks, secure alike from the wily serpent during the day, and the panther which prowls by night.

The pigmy of the ancients is a small Ethiopian species, resembling the Barbary ape, but smaller in size, not much ex

ceeding the dimensions of a cat. Its tribes were formerly alleged at certain seasons to wage a bloody war with cranes.

The callithrix, or green monkey (Simia Sabæa), is not unfrequently exhibited in menageries, where, however, its beautiful colour usually fades into a dingy olive. It occurs in various parts of Africa, both along the western and eastern shores. The name of callithrix, which signifies beautiful hair, was employed by Homer to denote the more ornamental colouring of the coat of various animals. It was applied by Greek authors, some centuries posterior to the time of Homer, to certain monkeys, and is now used specifically to distinguish the species in question. M. Adanson informs us that the woods of Podor, along the river Niger, are filled with green monkeys. He could discover them only by the branches which they cast down from the tops of the trees; for they were otherwise so silent, as well as nimble, that he could scarcely obtain a glimpse of them in their natural positions. After he had shot two or three the rest became alarmed, and endeavoured to shelter themselves behind the trunks and larger branches. Some descended to the ground; but the greater number of those that remained unwounded, sprung with great activity from the top of one tree to another. During this operation," says the traveller, "I continued to shoot, and in the space of twenty fathoms I killed twenty-three in less than an hour, and not one of them uttered the smallest cry, though they frequently assembled in troops, grinded their teeth, and assumed a threatening aspect, as if they meant to attack me."

The white-nosed monkey (Cercopithecus petaurista of Desmarest) inhabits the coast of Guinea. When taken young it is easily tamed, and is then exceedingly lively and diverting. The adult animals in the wild state are cunning and fierce, and avoid the vicinity of mankind.

The amount of species in this order of animals is so great that, even confined as we are to those of a single continent, a volume would scarcely suffice for the most superficial sketch of their history, were we to include the whole of the African species. We must therefore be very brief in what remains to be told of one or two additional kinds. Next to the magot or Barbary ape, one of the best known in Europe, is the mona or varied monkey. It is a native of the northern parts of Africa, and appears to have been known to the Greeks under the name of kebos. This species is of an affectionate nature in confinement, and is more than usually susceptible of education. Some consider him synonymous with the Abyssinian ape described by

Ludolphe, which that author saw in great troops turning over stones, with entomological zeal, in search of worms and insects.

It was probably a species allied to that last mentioned in its habits, of which an amusing though tragical account is given by Le Vaillant. In one of his excursions he killed a female monkey which carried a young one on her back. The young one continued to cling to her dead parent till they reached their evening quarters, and the assistance of a negro was even then required to disengage it. No sooner, however, did it feel itself alone than it darted towards a wooden block, on which hung the peruke of Le Vaillant's father. To this it clung most pertinaciously by its fore paws; and such was the strength of this deceptive instinct, that it remained in the same position for about three weeks, all this time evidently mistaking the wig for its mother. It was fed from time to time with goats' milk, and at length emancipated itself voluntarily, by quitting the fostering care of the peruke. The confidence which it ere long assumed, and the amusing familiarity of its manners, soon rendered it the favourite of the family. The unsuspecting naturalist had however introduced a wolf in sheep's clothing into his dwelling; for one morning, on entering his chamber, the door of which he had imprudently left open, he beheld his young favourite making a hearty breakfast on a very noble collection of insects. In the first transports of his anger he resolved to strangle the monkey in his arms; but his rage immediately gave place to pity, when he perceived that the crime of its voracity had carried the punishment along with it. In eating the beetles, it had swallowed several of the pins on which they were transfixed. Its agony consequently became great, and all his efforts were unable to preserve its life.

Baboons are fully more characteristic of Africa, as a generic group, than any other of the quadrumanous order. With the exception of the dog-faced baboon (Cynocephalus hamadryas), a native of the environs of Mocha, and other eastern shores of the Red Sea, we are not acquainted with any species of the genus which is not of African origin. They are, without doubt, notwithstanding their approximation in some respects to the human form, the most disgusting of the brute creation. Perhaps it is this very resemblance which excites our dislike. In spite of their occasionally brilliant colouring, and the length and beauty of their fur, there is an expression of moral deformity in their aspect which is exceedingly revolting, and they seem possessed of all the most odious and degrading propensities of the most God-forsaken of the human race. No other species exhi