"W; S«*\ #* «*v3 '♦! a'%™ jy,^a *" vJy %j -@. 31 pll pbrarg SPECIAL COLLECTIONS ^foritj (Derating JSiate (Eoltegs "QH45 ^><3 v.3 sf QH45 B8 v. 9 DA' "RlJ -P-Pnn 1457 IW This book must not be taken from the Library building. Library B Barrs Buffon. Buffon's Natural History. CONTAINING A THEORY OF THE EARTH, A GENERAL HIS TOR Y OF MAX, OF THE BRUTE CREATION, AND OF VEGETABLES, MINERALS, §C. 8$C. FROM THE FRENCH. WITH NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR. IN TEN VOLUMES. VOL. IX. PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETOR, AND SOLD BY H. D. SYMONDS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1807. T. Gillet, Crown -court, Fleet-street. CONTENTS OF THE NINTH VOLUME, 'age The Ijoris ----- J The Javelin Bat v - - - *> The Served ----- 6 The Ocelot - - 9 The Mar gay - - - - V3 The J achat and the Adil - - - 17 The Is at is ----- 25 The Glutton ----- ^0 The Stinkards - 35 77; e Pehan and the Vis on - - 41 The Leming - - - - 46 JV/c Sc« 0/ter - - - - 5 1. The CanaUan Otter - 59 The Seal, Walrus, and the Manati - 55 T/*e Seal - * 57 The Walrus, Morse, or Sea-Cow IS The Dugon - SO The Manati - 92 77/ e r '» 3 Page The, Nomenclature of apes, » - 107 The Orang-Outang, or the Pongo and the Jocko - - 149 The Pithecos, or Pigmy • 177 The Gibon, or Long-tailed Ape - 18i The Magot, or Barbary Ape m 188 The Papion, or Baboon, propet ly so called - - 192 The Mandrill - 197 The Ouandcrou, and the Louando 199 Hie Maimon - m 202 The Macaqucy and the Egret 205 The Patas - 208 The MalbroucJc, and the Bonnet Chinois 210 The Mangabey - - 216 The Mona - - 218 The CaHitrix, or Green Monkey • 221 The Moustac - 224 The Tulapoin - ■ 225 The Douc - 227 The Sapajous and the Sagoins m 231 The 0 urine, and the Alouale m 23i The Coati^andthe Exquima 240 The Sajou ' - 247 The Sai 219 The Saimiri , r 251 The Saki - 252 Hie Tamarin 25 1 The OuUtiti 255. The [ v ] Pdzt T> TheMarikini - - -253 The Pinch - 259 The Mico - 2G1 Account of some Animals not expressly treated of in this Work - 264 T/*e White Bear - - 265 T//€ Tartarian Cow - - 272 T/*e To/ai - - - 275 TheZizcl - - 276 T//e Zemni *■ - 277 The Pouch - - 279 27/ e Perouasca - - 279 TheSouslik - - 280 27ie Golden-coloured Mole - 282 T/*e flP&#e Water-Rat - - 283 TAe Guinea-Hog - - 284: T/ze *PiW J3o«r of Cape Verd - 285 The Mexican Wolf - - 293 The Alco - ' - - 295 The Tayra, or Galeri - - 299 The Philander of Surinam - 300 TheAkouchi - - 302 The Tucan [- - 304 The Field-Mouse of Brasil - - 305 TheAperea 306 T/*e Ztyrti - - - 307 Supjylenu [ vi ] Paze r> Supplement to the Quadrupeds • 309 The Crab-eater - 309 Anonymous Animal - * 312 Rat of Madagascar - 3 14 Degeneration of Animals • 315 176 no 177 Levis Javdiii J>Lit l.tirin Headed J)'. ■>'//»•„' /).'■ BUFFON'S NATURAL HISTORY. OF CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS. THE L.ORIS. THE Loris {fig. 176.) is a small animal found in Ceylon, very remarkable for the elegance of its figure, and for the singularity of its conformation : it has, perhaps, of all animals, the longest body in proportion to its bulk, having nine vertebras in the loins, whereas other quadrupeds have only five, six, or seven. The length of the body is the na- tural effect of this structure, and it appears the longer for having no tail ; in other respects, it resembles the maki kind, as well in the hands and feet as in the quality of the hair, the voL.Ix. b norfflhiMMr & C. State College BUFFO N*S number of teeth, and the sharpness of its muzzle. Independently of these singularities, which separates this animal from the makis, he has other particular attributes. His head is entirely round; his eyes are excessively large, and very close to each other ; his ears are large, round, and, in their insides, have three auricles in the shape of small shells; but what is still more singular, and perhaps un- matched in the whole tribe of animals, is that the female discharges her urine through the clitoris, which is perforated like the sexual organ of the male, and who in these two parts perfectly resemble each other. Linnaeus has given a short description of this animal, which appears to be exactly conform- able to Nature. It is also very correctly deli- neated by Seba ; and evidently appears to be the same as that which Thevenot speaks of in the following terms : " I saw, (says he) in the Mogul country, monkeys which had been brought from Ceylon ; they were greatly va- lued on account of their size, being not bigger than a man's fist. They were different from the common monkey, having a flat forehead, eyes round and large, and of a bright yellow colour, like those of some cats : their muzzle is very pointed : the inside of the cars is yellow, and NATURAL HISTORY. 3 Biid they have no tail. When I examined them they sat erect on their hind feet, folded the others across, and looked round at the spectators without (he least signs of fear." THE JAVELIN BAT. AMONG the numbers of the bat species, which were neither named nor known, we in- dicated some by names derived from foreign languages, and others by denominations drawn from their most striking characters. We have called one the Horseshoe Bat, from the exact resemblance the fore-part of its face bears to a horse-shoe, and the animal in question we have called the Javelin Bat, (Jig- 117.) from a sort of membrane on its nose which perfectly resembles the head of an ancient javelin, or spear. Though this character alone is suffi- cient to distinguish it from all other bats, yet we may add, that it has scarcely any tail, that its hair and size are nearly like the common bat, but that instead of having six incisive teeth in the lower jaw, it has only four. This species 4? BtTFFON's species of bat is very common in America, but is never found in Europe. There is another bat in Senegal, which has also a membrane upon its nose, not in the form of a horse-shoe, or javelin, as in the two bats we have just mentioned, but in the shape of an oval leaf. These three bats, being of different climates, are not simple varieties but distinct and separate species. M. Daubcnton has given the description of the Senegal bat, under the name of the leaf bat, in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 1759, p. 374. Bats which have great affinities to birds, by the power of flying, and the strength of their pectoral muscles, seem to resemble them still more in these membranes, or crests, which they have on their faces. These redundant parts, which-, at first sight, seem only to be superfluous deformities, are real characters which fill up the visible shades between these flying quadrupeds and birds ; for most of the latter have crests, or membranes, about their beaks and heads, which seem in every respect as superfluous as those of the bats. sup. NATURAL HISTORY. SUPPLEMENT. W E have received from M. Pallas the figures and descriptions of two bats hitherto unknown to naturalists; the first lie calls the cephalote, or large-headed bat, (fig. ITS.) from its head being so very large in proportion to its body. This bat M. Pallas says is found in the Ma- lacca islands; and from his finding but one foetus in a female, which was sent to him to Amsterdam, and which he dissected, he con- cludes they have but one young at a time: this species differs also from all others in the teeth, which in some measure resemble those of (he mouse or hedge-hog ; it has a short tail, situated between the thighs, a large nose and a broad muzzle ; its breast is very similar to that of a bird ; it is very near four inches long, and its wings extend above a foot. The second he calls the vespertilio soiicimts, or shrew bat (fig. 179.) ; this one has no tail, and carries a peculiar membrane on its nose ; it is thesmallest that is met with without a tail, being not more than two inches in length. This spec its BUFFO n's species is very common in the warm climates of America, the Carribbee Islands, and Surinam. At the same time M . Pallas sent us the ac- count of these animals he remarked that we -were in an error in our former description of the javelin bat, by confounding it with the American bat, mentioned by Seba, he, from a careful examination, being convinced of their being different species ; and we feel ourselves indebted to this gentleman for the pains he has taken to rectify our mistake. THE SERVAL. THIS animal, which was kept alive several years in the royal menagerie, by name of the fiver-cat, seems to be the same with that described by the gentlemen of the Academy, under the denomination of chat-pard ; and we should have still remained ignorant of its true name if the Marquis de Montmirail had not discovered it in an Italian book of travels which he has translated, and sent the follow- ing extract : " The maraputc, which the Por- tugueze NATURAL HISTORT. 7 tugueze in India, called serval (says P. VijtH> cent- Marie) is a ferocious animal, larger than the wild cat, and something less than the civet, from which last he differs by his head being rounder and thicker, and his face sinking in about the middle. He resembles the panther in the colour of his hair, which is yellow on the head, back, and sides, and white under the belly ; also by the spots, which are distinct, equally distributed, and a little less than those of the panther. His eyes arc very brilliant ; his whiskers are composed of long and stiff bristles; his tail is short ; his feet large, and armed with long and hooked claws. He is found in the mountains of India; he is seldom seen on the ground, but remains almost conti- nually on high trees, where he catches birds, which are his principal food. He leaps as nim- bly as a monkey, and goes from one tree to another with such address and agilityand pass- es over a great space in so short a time, that he may be said only to appear and disappear i he is ferocious in his nature, but flees at the sight of man, unless irritated, or his nest at- tacked, when he flies at the offender, and bites and tears nearly like the panther. Neither captivity, nor good nor bad treatment, wUl tame or soften the ferocity of this animal. That buffon's That winch we saw in the menagerie was always ready to rush on those who came near him : we could neither take a design nor a de- scription of him, otherwise than betwixt the bars of his cage. He was fed with flesh, like the panther and leopard. This serval, or ma- rap ute Of Malabar and India, seems to be the same animal as the tiger-cat of Senegal and the Cape of Good Hope, which, according to the testimony of travellers, resembles our cat in its shape, and the tiger (that is the panther or leo- pard) by the black and white spots of his fur. " This animal (say they) is four times larger than a cat ; is of a very voracious nature, and feeds on monkeys, rats, and other animals." From the comparison which we made of the serval and the chat jjard, described by the gen- tlemen of the Academy, we discovered no other difference than the long spots on the back, and the rings on the tail of the latter, which the ser- val has not. The spots on the back of the ser- val arc closer than those on the other parts of his body ; but these little disagreements arc so slight that we cannot doubt of the identity of the species of these two animals. THE Enjjraved for flaw Bufibn |-M<1. l«o C\xloi Jackal NATURAL HISTORY. THE OCELOT. OCELOT is an abbreviation of tlalocetott, the name of this animal in Mexico, its native country. It is ferocious and carnivorous, and may be ranked with the jaguar and cougar, for it is very nearly the same size, and resembles them in figure and dispositions. A male and female were shewn at the fair of St. Ovide, in September 1764. They came from the neigh- bourhood of Carthagena, and had been taken from their mother in the month of October, 1763. They became so sirong and cruel at the age of three months as to kill and eat the bitch which had nursed them. When we saw them, at a year old, they were about two feet long, and they had then, probably, not attain- ed more than one half, or two-thirds, of their growth. These animals were shewn by the name of the tiger-cat, but we have rejected this denomination as precarious and confused, especially as the jaguar, serval, and the margay, or Cayenne cat, were sent to us vol, ix. C under 10 BTJFFOn's under the same denomination, although those' three animals are very different from each other, as well as from the one we are at present treat- ing of. The first author who mentions this animal in a distinct manner is Fabri. He caused Rec- chi's designs of it to be engraven, and com- posed his description from them. He gives also a kind of history of him from the writings and information of Gregoire de Bolivar. I made these observations wilh a view to throw light on the circumstance which had led all the naturalists into an error, and by which I acknowledge I was also deceived. This cir- cumstance is to know whether the two animals designed by Recchi, the first by the name of tlatlauhquiocelotl and the second by that of tlacoozlotlj tlaloceloll) and afterwards described by Fabri as different species, are not the same animal. They were considered as distinct animals, notwithstanding the resemblance of their figures, because their names, and even descriptions, were different. I then supposed the first might be the same as the jaguar, and therefore gave him the Mexican name of tlatlauhquiocelotL which I am now convinced does not belong to him ; and since I have seen both the male and female, I am per- suaded, NATURAL HISTORY. 11 suaded, that the two described by Fabri, are only the same animal, of which the first is toe male, and the second the female. This error could only have been discovered by such a chance as we had of examining both the mnlc and the female together. Of all animals whose skins arc spotted, the robe of the male ocelot {fig. 180) is certainly the most beautiful, and most elegantly varied. Even the skin of the leopard does not come near if for the live- liness of its colours, and the regularity of its marks; and far less those of thejaguar, panther, and ounce. The colours of the female ocelot are much weaker, and the design less regular ; and this apparent difference it * asthat deceived Recchi, Fabri,and others, and was the occasion of their considering them as different species. When the ocelot has arrived at its full growth, he is, according to Bolivar, two feet and a half high, and about four feet long. The tail, though of a good length, does not touch the ground when hanging down, and consequently is not more than ,'wo feet ionjr. This animal is very voracious, but at the same time exceedingly timid. He seldom attacks the human species, and is terrified at the sight of a dog. When pursued, he flies to the forests, and climbs up a tree for safety, where he also sleeps 12 buffon's bleeps and watches for small animals, on which he springs when he sees them within his reach. He prefers blood to flesh, and for this reason he destroys a great number of animals; for in- stead of satisfying his hunger by devouring their flesh, he only quenches his thirst by sucking their blood. In a state of captivity he preserves his savage nature: nothing can soften his ferocious dis- position, nor calm his restless motion, which makes it necessary to confine him constantly in a cage. " After these young animals (says M. de l'Escot) had devoured their nurse, I confined them in a cage, and had them fed with fresh meat, of which they cat from seven to eight pounds a day. The male had a sin- gular superiority over the female, for however hungry the latter might be, she never touched any of the food until he was satisfied, or such pieces as he gave her, having previously re- jected them. I several times gave them alive cat, whose blood they sucked until the animal died, but they never eat any of their flesh. I put t\\ olive kids on board the vessel for their subsistence, for they neither eat, nor touched boiled nor salted meat." From the testimony of Gregoire de Bolivar, these animals commonly produce but two young ones NATURAL HISTORY. 13 ones at a birth, which M. de l'Escot seems to confirm, by saying, he had killed the mother before the two ocelots we have been speaking of, were taken away. THE MARGAY. THE Margay is much smaller than the ocelot. He resembles the wild cat in the size and shape of his body, only his head is more square, his snout and tail longer, and his ears more rounded ; his hair also is shorter than that of the wild cat, and he has black streaks and spots on a yellow ground. He was sent us from Cayenne by the- name of the//ger-faf, and, in fact, he partakes of the nature of the cat, jaguar, and ocelot, animals to which the name of tiger has been affixed in the New Continent. According to Fcrnandes, when this animal has arrived at its full growth, it is not quite so big as the civet ; and, accord- ing to Marcgrave, whose comparison seems more jusf, he is about the size of a wild cat, which he also resembles in his natural habits, Jiying upon fowls and small animals. He is very 14; BUFFON'S very difficult to tame, and never completely loses his. natural ferocity. He varies -greatly in his colours, though they are commonly such as we have described. This animal is very common in Guinea, Brasil, and all the other provinces of South America. It is probable that the pichou of Louisiana is the same ani- mal, but the species is less common in tempe- rate than in hot climates. If we recapitulate those cruel animals, whose robes are so beautiful, and whose natures are so malign, we shall find the tiger, panther, leopard, ounce, and serval, inhabit the Old Continent; and the jaguar, ocelot, and margay, natives of the New. These three last appear to be miniatures of the former, and which, having neither their size nor strength, are as timid and cowardly in proportion as the others are bold and intrepid. There is another animal of this class which the furriers call Guepard. We have seen many of their skins, and they have a resemblance to the lynx in the length of the hair ; but the ears not being terminated by a brush of hair, the guepard cannot be a lynx. Neither is he a panther nor a leopard ; for his hair is not so short as that of those animals, and he differs from all of them by a kind of mane, about four or NAT [Tit AL HISTORY. |Q or five inches long on his neck, and between his shoulders. The hair on his belly is also three or four inches long, and his tail much shorter in proporlion than that of the leopard, panther, or ounce. He is nearly of the size of the last animal, not being above three feet and a half long. He is of a very pale yellow colour, sprinkled with black spots like the leopard, but closer to each other, and much smaller. I thought this animal might be the same as that which Kolbe mentions by the name of the tiger-wolf. He is common in the countries bordering on the Cape of Good Hope. He remains all the day in the clefts of the rocks, or in holes which he digs in the ground. In the night he seeks for prey, but as he howls when in search of game, he warns men and animals of his approach ; so that it is very easy to avoid, or to kill him. The name °7/e- pard, is apparently derived from the word lepard; the mode in which the German and Dutch spell leopwd. We have also observed there are many varieties in this species, both in respect to the ground colour, and that of the s;:ots; but every guepardlms the common character of long hairs on the belly, and a mane on the neck. sur- 16 buffon's SUPPLEMENT. M. de la BORDE, in treating of the tiger- cat of Cayenne, says, he has a skin spotted very much like 189) so strongly resembles the marten, and the vison (Jig. 190) the pole-, cat, that we are inclined to consider them as varieties of those two species. They are of the same make and proportion, have the same length of tail, quality of hair, and number of teeth and claws ; from which facts there is certainly sufficient reason to conclude that they are merely varieties, or at least as species approaching so near each other,, that it is diffi- cult to point out any real difference, except that the hair of the pekan and the vison is more soft, brown, and glossy, than that of the marten and pole-cat; but this difference is common to them as well as to the beaver, otter, and other animals of North America, whose fur is more beautiful than those of the same kind of animals in the north of Europe. THI NATURAL HISTORY. 45 . .■ THE SABLE. ALMOST every naturalist has treated of this animal without knowing any thing more of it than its skin. M. Gmelin is the first who has given its figure and description, from having seen two living ones at the Governor's of Tobolski. w The sable (says he) resembles the marten in his shape and habit of body, and the weasel in the number of his teeth : he has six long incisive teeth, a little turned back, two long canine teeth in the lower jaw, and very sharp small teeth in the upper ; he has very large whiskers about the mouth; and his feet are broad, and armed with five claws; These characters were common to these two sables, but one of them was of a dark brown, ex- cepting the ears and throat, where the hair was rather yellow ; the other, which was smaller was of a more yellowish tincture, its ears and throat being also much paler. These are the colours they both have in winter, and which they change in the spring, the former be- coming of a yellowish brown, the other of a pale yellow. I have often admired, continues M. Gmelin, the agility of these animals. Whenever 44 buffon's Whenever they perceived a cat they fixed themselves in an erect posture on their hind legs, as if they were preparing for an attack. • Their inquietude in the night* was also re- markable, that being the natural time for seek- ing their prey, whereas in the day, especially after feeding, they generally slept an hour at a time, during which they might be taken up, rolled about, or carried to any distance without the smallest hazard of disturbing them." These animals inhabit the banks of rivers in shady places, and also the thickest woods : they leap with great ease from tree to tree, and are said to be afraid of the sun ; the rays of which tarnish the lustre of their robes in a very short time. It has also, though erroneously, been asserted, that they conceal themselves in holes, and remain torpid during the winter, whereas that is the chief time for hunting them, as their skins are then in the greatest perfection. They live on rats, fish, and wild fruit. They have the same disagreeable odour common to animals of this kind, and which is strongest during their rutting season. They are most numerous in Siberia, being very few in Russia, and still less in Lapland and other northern countries. * This inquietude and motion during the night is not peculiar to sables : the same thing may be observed iu er- mines. KAtURAL HISTORY. 43 countries. The blackest furs are the most esteemed.* The difference of this skin and which so particularly distinguishes it from all others, consists in the fur having no grain, but rubbed any way, is equally smooth and irre- sisting ; whereas the furs of all other animals, rubbed against the grain, give a sensation of roughness from their resistance. The sable is chiefly hunted by condemned criminals, who are sent to Russia into these dreary and extensive forests ; or by soldiers who are sent there on purpose. These un- fortunate wretches remain there many years, and are obliged to furnish a certain number of skins annually ; they only employ a single ball to kill this animal that they may damage the fur as little as possible; sometimes instead of fire-arms, they make use of the cross-bow and very small pointed arrows. As the success of this hunting requires address and great assi- duity, the officers are permitted to encourage the criminals, by allowing them to share among themselves the surplus of the number they are obliged to procure; and this in a few year?., frequently amounts to a considerable sum. Some naturalists have imagined the sable to be the satherius of Aristotle, and their con- jectures * Sonnini says that there is a variety of the sable, entirely white; it is very rare. Another variety is equally rare, which has a. white or yellow spot under the neck. 46 buffon's jecture seems to be well founded. The fine- ness of the sable's fur indicates that he often goes into the water ; and some travellers assert, that (lie greatest numbers are found in small islands; Aristotle calls the satherius[a water ani- mal, and joins it to the beaver and the otter. We mustalso presume, that when Athens was in its height of magnificence, these beautiful skins were not unknown to the Athenians, and that the animal which supplied them had some name affixed to him, and we know of no one that can be applied to the sable with greater propriety than that of sat Iter ius. If it be true that the sable eats fish, and often dwells in the water, he must also have a place among the number of amphibious animals. = THE LEMING. OLAUS MAGNUS is the first who has taken notice of the Leming ; and all that Ges- ner, Scaliger, Ziegler, Johnston, and others have said respecting him, is extracted from that author. But Worraius, who made very strict researches, speaks more particularly. " The leming NATURAL HISTORY. 47 lemingr (says he) is of the shape of a mouse, but has a shorter tail : his body is about fi ve inches long, and is covered with fine hair of various colours. The extremity of the upper part of the head, the neck and shoulders are black, and the rest of the body is reddish, inter- mixed with small black spots of various figures excepting the tail, which is brown, and not above half an inch long. Some of them have red hairs about the mouth, resembling whiskers, six of which are considerably longer than the rest. The mouth is small, and the upper lip divided like the squirrel. Two sharp, incisive, and crooked teeth, shoot from the upper jaw, the roots of which penetrate to the orbit of the eyes: in the lower jaw they have teeth con- formable to the upper; a little distance from these on each side are placed three grinders. The tongue is pretty large, and extends to the extremity of the incisive teeth. The remains of the food found in the throat of this animal, induces us to imagine he ruminates. The! eyes are little and black ; the ears round and inclining towards the neck ; the legs before are shorter than those behind ; the feet are cloathed with hair, and armed with five very sharp and crooked claws : the middle claw is the longest and the fifth is like the spur of a cock, 48 bufpon's cock, sometimes placed very high up the leg. The hair on the belly is whitish, bordering a Utile on yellow, &c." This animal, though its legs are very short, and iis body thick, runs very swiftly. They generally inhabit the mountains of Norway and Lapland, from whence they sometimes de- scend in such numbers, that the inhabitants look on their arrival as a terrible scourge, which there is no possibility of preventing. They move, for the roost part, in the night, and remain still during day. It is in vain that attempts are made to stop their pro- gress, for though thousands are destroyed, myriads seem to succeed. They generally move in lines about three feet from each other, and exactly parallel ; and their march is al- ways directed from the north-west to the south- west. Wherever their motions are direct- ed nothing can turn them aside ; if a lake, or river, interrupts their progress, they all take to the water and swim over it ; even a fire, or a well, does not turn them out of their line of direction; they boldly plunge into the flames, or leap down the well, and are sometimes seen climbing up on the other side. If they are in- terrupted by a boat, while they are swimming across the river,they mount directly up its sides, and the boatmen, who know how vain resist- ance NATURAL HISTORY. 49 ancc would be, calmly suffer the living torrent to pass over, which it does without further da- mage; and if they meet with a stack of hay or corn, they gnaw their way through. Hap- pily, however, they never enter an house to destroy the provisions, but consume every root and vegetable that they meet, and lay waste every garden, meadow, or field of corn that comes in their Way. If a man ventures to attack one of them, the Utile animal is no way intimidated by the disparity of strength, but furiously flies up at his opponent, and wherever he fastens, it is not easy to make him quit his hold; and when thus attacked they have a kind of bark somewhat like that of little dosjs. An enemy so numerous and destructive, would soon render the countries where they appear utterly uninhabitable, did it not fortu- nately happen, that the same rapacity that animates them to destroy the labours of man- kind, at least impels them to destroy each other. After committing incredible devasta- tions, they at last separate into two armies, opposed with deadly hatred, along the coasts of the larger lakes and rivers. The Laplanders, who observe them thus drawn tip, instead of consideringtheir mutual animosities as a happy vol. ix. , II riddance 50 buffon's riddance of. the most dreadful pest, form omi- nous prognostics from the manner of their en- gagements ; they consider their combats as a presage of war, and expect an invasion from the Russians or Swedes. The two divisions, however, continue their engagements, and from that time they begin to disappear, nor is it well known what becomes of either the con- querors or the conquered. Some suppose that they rush into the sea, others that they kill themselves, as some aie found hanging on the forked branches of trees ; and others that they are destroyed by the young spring herbage. But it is most probable, that having consumed the vegetable productions of the country, they then fall upon and devour each other. How- ever this may be, they die in such numbers, that their carcasses have been known to infect the air, and to produce malignant disorders. They seem also to infect the [ lants which they gnaw, as the cattle often die that feed in the places where they passed. In fine weather, they go in droves into the water, but no sooner does the wind rise, than they are all drowned. As the inhabitants know not from whence they come, it is a vulgar opinion that they fail from the clouds with the rain.* The •Scheffer's Hist. Lapland, Phil. Trans. &c. NATURAL HISTORY. 51 The male is generally larger, and its spots bigger than those of the female. The flesh of the lemings is horrid food, and their skins, though covered with a very beautiful fur, is of too little consistence to be serviceable. THE SEA OTTER. THEVET says, " the Saricovienne, or Sea Otter, is found by the sides of the river Plata ; it is an amphibious animal, and lives as much in the water as upon land ; it is full as large as a cat, its skin is a very dark grey, nearly black, and is extremely soft ; its feet are webbed like those of water fowls ; and its flesh is very good, and even delicate." Naturalists do not seem to have been ac- quainted with this animal, nor to have known that the carigueibeju of Brasil, which is cer- tainly the same, had membranes between the toes, for Marcgrave, who has given a descrip- tion of it, totally omits this essential character. I am also of opinion that the guachi, mentioned by Gumilla, which is a species of otter in South 52 buffon's South America, is the same as the saricovienne. Marcgrave and Desmarchais describe it to be as big as a middling sized dog : that the top of ils head is round, and its nose long ; that its teeth and whiskers resemble those of the cat ; that it has small black eyes, round ears, five toes on each foot, with a kind of thumb shorter than the others, and all armed with brown claws; that its hair, which is short and soft, is black on the body, and has a white spot under the chili ; that its voice is somewhat like that of a young dog ; and notwithstanding it lives principally on crabs and nYh, its flesh is very good, and its skin makes an excellent fur. THE CANADIAN OTTER. THIS Otter, (jig. 191 ) which is larger than ours, and which must be a native of the north of Europe, as well as of Canada, occasioned me to enquire whether it was not the same animal as that called by Aristotle the latciXj which, he says, is much larger and stronger than the common otter. But his observations do NATURAL HISTORY. 53 do not entirely agree with the animal in ques- tion, and therefore as it perfectly resembles the common otter in other respects, I judged that it was not a particular species, but only a simple variety ; and as the Greeks, especially Aristotle, have taken great care not to give different names, except to distinct species, we are therefore convinced that the lalax is another animal. Besides, as the otters, like the bea- vers, are commonly larger, and their hair finer, and of a more beautiful black in America than in Europe; this Canadian ot'er ought, in fact, to be larger and blacker than our otter. But in attemp(ing to discover what the tatax of Aristotle might be, I conjectured that it was the same animal as Belon calls the marine zcolf. Aristotle mentions six amphibious animate, of which only three are known to us, namely, the seal, the beaver, and the otter ; the three others, the latax, the satherion^ and the saty* rion, still remain unknown, because their names are only mentioned without any description of them. In this case, as in all those where we cannot draw any direct induction from a knowledge of the object, we must have recourse to the mode of exclusion: but we cannot make use of that mode with any success, unless we are 54 btjffon's are nearly acquainted with every tiling ; when that is the case, we can conclude a negative from the positive, and this negative hence be- comes a positive fact. For example, I believe that by long study, I have attained a know- ledge of almost every quadruped. I knOw that Aristotle could not have had any know- ledge of those peculiar to the continent of Ame- rica. I aLo know tho?e which are amphibious, and among these I separate those that belong to America, as the tapir, the cabiai, the onda- tni, &c. and then there remains only the am- phibious animals of our own continent, name- ly, the hippopotamus, the walrus, or sea-cow, the sea-wolf of Belon, the beaver, the otter, the sable, the water-rat, the Muscovy musk- rat, the water shrew-mouse, and we may include the ichneumon, which some have looked upon as an amphibious animal, and styled it the Egyptian otter. I retrench from this number the walrus, or sea-cow, the seal, or sea-cow, which being only met with in the northern seas, was not known to Aristotle; I also re- trench the hippopotamus, the water-rat, and the ichneumon, because he speaks of them in another part of his work by their proper names; and I likewise retrench the seal, tlfefeeatver, and the otter, which are well known, and the water NATURAL HISTORY. 55 water shrew-mouse, because it is too much like the land one to have received a different name. There then remains the sea-wolf of Belon, the sable, and the Muscovy musk-rat, for the lalax, the saiherion^ and the satyrion. Of these three animals, the sea-wolf of Belon is the. only one that is larger than the otter, therefore it alone can represent the latax ; con- sequently the sable and the Muscovy musk-rat, must represent the satherion and the satj/rion. It must, however, be perceived that these con- jectures, which I believe to be well founded, are not among the number which time can elu- cidate, unless some Greek manuscripts shall be discovered which are unknown at present, where these names are made use of, and ex- plained by new indications. THE SEAL, THE WALRUS, AND THE MAN ATI. SEAL, Walrus, and Man at i, are rather generic denominations than specific names. Under that of the Seal, we shall comprehend, first, the phoca of the ancients, which is proba- bly the same animal as the seal ; 2. The com- mon 56 BUFFON'S raon seal, which we call the sea-calf; 3. The great seal, of which Mr. Pardons has given a figure and description in the Philosophical Transactions, No. 496; and 4. The very large seal, which is called the sea-lion, the figure and description of which is given in Anson's Voyages. By the walrus we understand those animals commonly called sea-cozes, or sea-horses. We know of two species of this animal, one found only in the northern seas, and the other only in the southern, which is called (lagan or In- dian walrus. And lastly, under thai otmanali, we comprehend those called lamantans, or sea-oxen, in St. Domingo, and other parts of South America, as well as that of Senegal, and other parts of the coast of Africa, and which seem to be only varieties of the Ame- rican species. The seal and the walrus approach nearer to quadrupeds than to cetaceous animals, because they have a kind of feet. But the manatis, which have only two before, are more of the cetaceous tribes than the quadrupeds. But they differ from every other a nimal by the following striking character. They are the only animals that can equally live in air and water, and consequently the only ones we can properly term FI6J£2 Seal 3fo/tati Walrus NATURAL UISTOHY, 57 term amphibious. In man, and the other ter- restrial viviparous animals, the foramen ovale of the heart, which permits the foetus to live without respiration, is shut at the moment of Us birth, and remains closed during life. la these, on the contrary, it is always open, not- withstanding the females bringforth their young on land ; and their respiration begins and ope- rates immediately after birth, as it does in every other animal. By means of this perpetual aperture in the septum, subsisting and permit- ing the communication of the blood from the vena cava to the. aorta, these animals have the advantage of breathing or not at pleasure. This singular property is common to ail three ; hut each has peculiar faculties, which we shall notice as far as possible, in the history of the different species. THE SEAL, THE Seal (Jig. 192.) in general has a round Ivead, like the human species ; a broad muzzle like the otter ; eyes large and elevated ; little or no external ears, having only two auditory vol. ix. I passages 58 BUFFON*S passages on the sides of the head; whiskers about its mouth; teeth somewhat resembling those of the wolf; the tongue forked at the point ; the body, hands, and feef, covered with a short and bristly hair ; no arms but two membranes, like hands, with five fingers terminated by as many claws ; no legs but two feet exactly like the hands, except being larger and turned backwards, as if designed to unite with a very short tail $ which they accompany on each side; the body is thickest at the breast from whence it tapers down to the tail like a fish. He is so strange an animal that he appears fictitious,and has served as a model for the poets to form their tritons, syrens, and other sea deities , whom they feigned to have the head of a man, the body of a quadruped^ and the tail of a fish. In fact, he seems to reign superior in the mute empire of the sea, by his voice, figure, and intelligence, which he possesses equally Mith any land animal; he is so far above the order of fishes, that he seems not only to belong to a different order of beings, but to a different world. Hence though of a nature very distant from that of our do- mestic animals, yet he seems susceptible of a kind of education. He is reared by putting him often in water ; he is taught (ogive a salute with his head and -his voice; he will come when NATURAL HISTORY. 59 when called, and he gives many other signs of intelligence and docility. His brain is proportionally larger than in man : his sensations arc as perfect, and his in- tellects as active, as those of any quadruped ; both are strongly marked in his docility, his social qualities, his strong instinct for the fe- male, his great attention towards his young, and by the expressive modulation of his voice, which is superior to that of any other animal. His body is likewise firm and large ; he is very strong and armed with sharp teeth and claws. He also enjoys many particular and singular advanta ges. He can, with perfect ease, endure heat or cold ; he feeds indifferently on grass, flesh, or fish ; and he can equally live on ice, land, or in the water. This animal, with the walrus alone, deserves the name of amphibious. They alone have the foramen oxale open, con- sequently they are the only animals who can exist without respiration, the elements of air and water being equally agreeable. The otter and the beaver cannot properly be termed amphibious, as the air is their real element, for not having this aperture through the septum of the heart, they cannot remain any length of time under th6 water, but are obliged to quit it. CO BUFFOS's it, or raise their heads out of it in order to re- spire. Bat these great advantages are counter- balanced by imperfections still greater. The seal may be said to be deprived of the use of his limbs, as his arms, thighs, and legs are almost entirely shut up within his body, while nothing appears without but his hands and feet^ which are, it is true, furnished with five fingers or toes, but which are scarcely movea- ble, being united by a strong membrane, so that they might more properly be called fins than hands and feet, being more adapted for the purpose of swimming than walking. Besides the hind feet are turned backwards, therefore entirely useless upon land, so that when the animal is obliged to move, he drags himself forward like a reptile, and with efforts much more painful, for as he cannot bend himself in an arch, like the serpent, to obtain the support of different parts, and so advance by the re- action of the ground, he would remain like a lump on the earth if it were not for his hands and tail, and with which he seizes any thing within his reach with such dexterity that he drags himself up the steepest shores, rocks,and even shoals of ice, however steep or slippery. By NATURAL HISTORY. Gl By tlits method be moves with a much greater degree of swiftness than could be expected, and often 3 though wounded, escapes the pur- suit of the hunters. The seal is a social animal, at least great numbers generally frequent the same places. Their natural climate is the north, but they live in the temperate and even hot countries, for they .-'.re seen on the shores of almost all the seas of E iropeand even in the Mediterranean; they are found also in the southern seas of Afri- ca and America ; but they are infinitely more common and more numerous in the northern seas of Asia, Europe, and America . This spe- cies varies in size, colour, and figure, accord- ing to the difference of climates. We have seen some of these animals alive, and many of their skins have been sent to us ; out of these we have chosen two for our present subject ; the first is the common seal of our European sea, of which there are many varieties. We have seen one, the proportions of whose body seemed to differ from any other, its neck being shorier, its body longer, and its claws larger ; but these differences are not sufficient to con- stitute a distinct species. The second is the seal of the Mediterranean and southern seas, which we presume to be the plioca of (he an- cicn's, and a distinct species, for it differs from the 62 buffon's the others in the quality and colour of the hair, which is flowing, and almost black, whereas that of the common kind is grey, and of a bristly nature. Its teeth and ears arc also dif- ferent, for it has a very small external ear, •which the other has not ; its incisive teeth are likewise terminated with two points, while the teeth of the other are smooth and sharp, like those of the dog, wolf, arid other quadrupeds. Its arms, or fins, are also situated lower, that is to say, more backward. Nevertheless, these discrepancies are, perhaps, only varieties de- pending on the climate, and not specific differ- ences ; especially as in places where the seals abound, there are numbers of them found lar- ger and smaller, thicker and thinner, and of different colours according to their sex and age. From a similarity, w Inch appeared at first sight but trivial, and by some fugitive accounts, we were induced to suppose this second seal, or small seal, was the phoca of the ancients. We were informed that the one we had was brought from India, and very probably it came from the Levant. It was an adult, as it had all its teeth. It was about a fifth less than the full- grown seals of our ocean, and about two-thirds less than those of the Frozen Sea, for it was not above two feet five inches in length, while that NATURAL HISTORY. 63 that described by Mr. Parsons was seven feet and a half loijg, though not arrived at its full growth, as it wanted several teeth. Now the characters given by the ancients of their phoca do not denote so large an animal, but agree with the small seal, which they often compare to the ot(er and beaver. There is another circumstance mentioned by the ancients as belonging to the phoca, which, though false, could never have been intimated as belonging to our seals, or those of (he northern seas. They say that the phoca's hair waves like the sea, and by a natural sympathy follows its motions, \ying backward when it flows and forward when it ebbs, and that this remarkable effect remains long after the skin is separated from the animal. Now this could never be attributed to our seals, nor to those of the northern seas, since the hair of both is short and stiff; while, on the contrary, it rather agrees with that of the small seal, which is longer, and of a more supple nature than the hair of the common kind. Besides, Cardan positively asscr.'s, that this property, which had been regarded as fabulous, is found to be a fact in India. Without placing more de- pendance on this assertion of Cardan's than it deserves, we must allow it indicates that this circumstance belongs to the Indian seal, though possibly Gi buffon's possibly it is nothing more than an electric phenomenon, the effects of which the ancicnl* being ignorant might ascribe it to the flowing and ebbing of the sea. However th is may be, the above reasons are a sufficient foundation to presume, that the small seal is the phoca of the ancienls ; and there is also great reason to conclude, that it is ihesameas that M. Ron- delatius calls the Mediterranean phoca, the body of which, according to him, is much longer and smaller, in proportion, than our seal. The great seal, described by Mr. Par- sons, and which, probably, came from the nonhern seas, seems to be a different species from the oilier two, for, notwithstanding it had scarcely any teeth , it was as big again, in all its dimensions, as the common kind. Mr. Parsons, as Mr. Klein judiciously remarks, speaks a great deal on the subject of this animal in a few words, and has given t\\c following ob- servations in the Philosophical Transactions, No. 409, p. 383, 286. " A sea-calf was shewn at Charing-cro^s, London, in the month of February, 1742-3. The figures given by Aldrovandus, Johnston, and others, being designed in profile, lead us into two errors. 1st. They make the legs appan nt, though they are not visible external- ly iu any position the animal is placed ; and, secondly, NATURAL HISfORY. 65 Secondly, the hind feet are represented like two fins, whereas they are two real feet, webbed like those of a water-fowl, each having five toes, composed of three articulations, and end- ing with darkish-coloured claws. The claws on the fore-feet are very large and broad, nearly like those of a mole, and seem to be designed for the purposes of crawling, and partly for swimming, as between each toe there is a narrow membrane ; but the membranes of the hind feet are much larger, and only serve to row the animal along when in the water. It was a female, and died in the morning of the 16th of February, 1742-5. The hairs that were about its mouth were of a horny and transparent substance ; its stomach, intestines, bladder, kidneys, ureters, diaphragm, lungs, great blood-vessels, and the parts of genera- tion, were like those of a cow: the spleen -was two feet long, foar inches broad, and exceed- ingly thin; the liver was composed of six lobes, each of which was long and thin, like the spleen ; the gall bladder was very small ; the heart long, and of a soft texture, having a large foramen ovale, and the fleshy parts very considerable. In the lower stomach were about four pounds weight of sharp and angular pieces of flint, which seems as if the animal had vol. tx. K swallowed 60 buffon's swallowed them for the purpose of grinding its food. This animal is viviparous, and suckles its young by the mamilla, like quadrupeds, and ils flesh is firm and muscular. Although \t had attained seven feet and a half in length, yet it was but young, as it had scarcely any teeth ; and it had four small holes regularly placed about the navel, which were the pre- ceding signs of four teats to appear hereafter." Thus it appears there are three kinds ot seals, differing from each other. The small black seal of India and the Levant ; tho common seal of our seas ; and the great seal of the northern ocean. To the first of- these, therefore, we must refer all that the ancients have written about the phoca. Aristotle was acquainted witli this animal, for he has de^ scribed it of an ambiguous nature, an inter- mediate creature between aquatic and terrestrial animals; that is, an imperfect quadruped, having no external teats for suckling its young, and only very apparent auditory passages ; that its tongue is forked, and has a small tail re- sembling that of a stag. This entirely agrees with the seal ; but he is deceived in affirming that its has no gall-bladder. Mr. Parsons, indeed says, that the gall-bladder of the great seal which he describes, was very small; but M. Daubenton- NATURAL HISTORY. 67 M. Dauben(on found a gall-bladder in the seal •which he dissected proportionable to the size of the liver ; and the gentlemen of the Aca* demy of Sciences, who also met with a gall- bladder in the seal which they dissected, do not speak of its being remarkably small, Aristotle could not have had any knowledge of the great seal of the Frozen Sea, since in the time he lived all the north of Europe and of Asia was unknown. The Romans con* sidered Gaul and Germany as their north, and the Greeks knew still less of the animals be* longing to this part of the world ; it is, there- fore, very probable, that when Aristotle speaks of the phoca as a very common animal, he only- means the Mediterranean seal. These three species have many properties irt common with each other ; the females bring forth in winter, and place their young uport some sand-bank, rock, or small island. Wheii they suckle their young they sit upon their hind legs, and continue to nourish them in this manner for twelve or fifteen days, after which she brings them to the water, accustoms them to swim, and to search for their food; she car- ries them on her back when they are fatigued. As each litter does not consist of above two or three, her cares are not much divided, and the education of her little ones is soon completed. u 68 buffon's In fact, these animals are very sagacious and docile; they understand and naturally assist each other in dangers. The young ones distinguish their mother among a nume- rous troop ; and are perfectly obedient to her call. We are unacquainted with their time of gestation ; but if we judge of it from that of their growth, the length of their lives, and the size of the animal, it must be many months ; the time from their birth till they attain their full growth being many years, the length of their lives must be proportion- ably long. I am even inclined to believe that these animals live upwards of a hundred years, for we know that cetaceous animals, in general, live much longer than quadrupeds ; and as the seal is the link between both it, ought to participate of ihe nature of the first, and consequently live much longer than the last. The voice of the seal may be compared to the barking of an angry dog. When young, they have a shrill note, somewhat like the mewing of a cat. Those that are taken early from their dams mew continually, and often die of hunger sooner than take the food that is offered them. They bark at and endeavour to bite those who injure them, and are more of a courageous than timid nature. Instead of being terrified NATURAL HISTORY. 69 terrified at thunder and lightning", it seems to delight them ; they generally come on shore in tempests and storms, and even quit their icy abodes to avoid the shock of the waves ; at such times they sport in great numbers along the shore : the tremendous conflic. seems to divert, and the heavy rains that fall, to enliven them. They have naturally a disagreeable scent, and which is smelt at a great distance, when there are great numbers together. When pursued they often drop their excrements, which are of a yellow colour, and of a very abominable scent. They have a prodigious quantity of blood, and being also loaded with fat, they are, consequently, very dull and heavy. They usually sleep a great deal, and very sound, and are fond of taking their re- pose in the sun on flakes of ice, or sides of rocks, and they may be approached very nigh without being disturbed, which is the usual method of taking them. They are very seldom secured with fire-arms, for i hey do not imme- diately die, even if shot in the head, but plunge into the sea, and are entirely lost to the hunter ; therefore the general method is to surprise them when asleep, or at a distance from the sea, and knock them on the head with clubs. " They are not easily killed, and are a long time dying (says an eye-witness), for although 70 buffoxn's although mortally wounded, their blood nearly exhausted, and even stripped of their skins, yet they still continue alive; and indeed it is a shocking sight to see them in this condition wallowing: and rolling about in their blood. These remarks were made on an animal we killed, about eight feet long ; after it was tkinned, and deprived of the greater part of its fat, yet it attempted to bite, notwithstand- ing they had given him many powerful blows over the head and nose. It even seized a cut- lass with as much vigour as if it had not been wounded ; after which we pierced it through the heart and liver, from whence as much blood flowed as is contained in a young ox"-.'* The hunting, or perhaps, to speak more properly, the fishing of these animals is not very difficult, and is attended with great profit, the flesh being good food, and the skin ex- ceedingly serviceable. The Americans fill them with air, and make a kind of rafts, or small boats of them : their fat yields a clear and ranch sweeter oil than that drawn from tbe porpoise, or other cetaceous animals. To these three kinds of seals already men* Cloned we mrty, perhaps, add a fourth, described in Anson's voyages by the name of the sea-lion. These are found in great numbers on the Magellanie * Recueil des Voyages du Nord. toro.ii. p. 117, &c, NATURAL HISTORY. 71 Magellanic coasts, and at the island of Juan Femandes, in the South Sea. The sea-lion resembles our seal, which is very common in the same latitudes, but it is much larger, being from eleven to eighteen feet long, and from eight to eleven in circumference, when it has acquired its full growth. They are so fat that when the skin is taken off, the blubber is about a foot thick all round the body, and from a single animal more than ninety gallons of oil may be drawn. They are, at the same time, very full of blood, and which, when deeply wounded, springs out with amazing force. Upon the throat of one of these animals being cut, two hogsheads of blood were taken out, besides what then remained in its body. Their skins are covered with a short hair of a brownish colour, but blackish on the tail and feet. Their toes are united by a membrane, which does not reach to their extremity, and each of them are terminated by a claw. The sea-lion differs from the common seal not only in its size and bulk, but also by other cha- racters. The male has a kind of thick crest, or trunk, hanging from the end of its upper jaw, about five or six inches long. This cha- racter is not seen in the females, and forms a very striking distinction between them. The strong 72 BUFFOn's strong males collect together a flock of fe- males, and permit no other male to approach them. These animals are truly amphibious ; they remain all the summer in the sea, and go upon land in the winter ; at which season the females bring forth, but never produce above one or two at a litter, which they suckle. The sea-lions, while they are on land, feed on the herbage which grows by the sides of the sea. They are of a very heavy and drowsy- nature, and delight to sleep in the mire. Though very indolent and difficult to waken, yet at those times they commonly fix some as centinels near the place where they sleep ; and it is said, that these centinels give loud warnings when any danger is near. Their voices are very loud and of various tones ; sometimes grunting like hogs, and sometimes neighing like horses. The males often fight about the females and wound one another des- perately with their teeth. The flesh of these animals is not disagreeable to eat ; particularly the tongue, which is as good as that of the ox. They are very easily killed, as they cannot defend themselves, nor fly from their enemies: they are so exceedingly heavy, that they move with great difficulty, and turn themselves with still greater. Those that hunt them have only to NATURAL HISTORY. 73 to guard against corning too near their teeth, which are very strong, and with which they inflict deadly wounds* By comparing other observations and ac- counts, and from the conclusions which may be drawn from them, the sea-lion of South America, appears to be nearly the same animal as that found on the northern coasts of the same continent. The large seal of Canada, spoken of by Denis, by the name of the sea- wolf, and which he distinguishes from the common seals, may possibly be of the same species as these sea-lions. " Their young, says this author, are bigger and longer at their birth than our largest hogs." Now it is certain that ours- :ils are never of that size, even when full-grown. The Mediterranean seal, or the phoca of the ancients, is still less; therefore there only re- maius the seal Mr. Parsons has described, which agrees with that mentioned by Denis* Mr. Parsons does not say whence this great seal was brought : but whether it came from the north of Europe, or from America, it might be the same as the sea-wolf of Denis, or the sea-lion of Anson, for it appears to be of the same size, since though not nearly full-grown it measured seven feet in length. Besides the size, there is the most apparent difference be- vol. ix. L tween 74 buffon's tween the sea-lion and the seal, namely, the male of the first has a large crest on its upper jaw. Now Mr. Parsons did not see the male ; he only described the female, which had no crest, and which perfectly resembled the female sea-lion, mentioned by Anson. To these si- milarities Parsons adds another still more pre- cise ; he says, that the great seal which he saw had a stomach and intestines like those of a cow ; and the sea-lion also mentioned in An- son's Voyages, is described as an animal which feeds on grass during the whole summer. Hence it is very probable that these two ani- mals are formed alike, or rather they are the same animals, and very different from other seals, who have but one stomach, and which live entirely upon fish. Rogers had spoken of this animal nearly in the same manner as is done in Anson's Voy- ages. " The sea-lion (says he) is a very strange creature, and of a prodigious bulk ; I have seen some above twenty feet long, which could not weigh less than four thousand pounds. Many of them were sixteen feet long and must weigh two thousand pounds ; not- withstanding which, I was surprised at the great quantity of oil drawn from these animals. Its shape is nearly like the sea-calf; but its skin is NATURAL HISTORY. 75 is as thick as that of an ox ; the hair is short and bristly ; the head disproportionally large ; the mouth very wide ; the eyes of a monstrous size, and the nose, which resembles that of the lion, has terrible whiskers, formed of such ex- ceedingly stiff and bristly hair, that they might be used for tooth-picks. Towards the latter end of June, these animals go upon the island of Juan Fernandes to bring forth their young; which they do at about a gun-shot distance from the edge of the sea ; there they remain till the end of September, without moving out of the place, and without taking any nourish- ment : at least, we did not see them eat. I observed some which remained eight days in the same spot, and which would not have stir- red then had they not been frightened by the report of a pistol. At the island of Lobos in the South Sea, we likewise saw several sea-lions, but a much greater number of seals." These observations of Woods and Rogers, which agree with what is said in Anson's Voy- ages, seem to be further proofs of these animals living upon grass when they are on land ; for there is but little probability that they should exist three months without any food, and espe- cially during the time they suckle their young. We find in the Collection of Voyages to the South 76 buffon's South Seas, many remarks respecting these animals ; but neither the descriptions nor cir- cumstances appear to be exact : for example, it is said, that in the Straits of Magellan, there are sea- wolves of such an enormous size, that their skins, when stretched out, were six and thirty feet wide; which is evidently an exag- geration. It is also said, that on the two islands of Port Desire, those animals resemble lions in the anterior part of their body, having a very long mane on their heads, necks, and shoulders. This is a still greater exaggera* tion ; for the sea-lions have only a little more hair on the neck than on the rest of the body, but which is not above an inch in length. It is likewise said that there are some of these animals above eighteen feet long, many about fourteen, but most commonly not above five. This might induce us to imagine, that there are two species, the one much larger than the other, because the author does not say whether this difference proceeded from the difference in their ages, which, however, was necessary in order to prevent error. " These animals (says Coreal) keep their mouths always open. It is with great difficulty that two men can kill one of these animals even with a strong lance, which is the best weapon that can be made use NATURAL HISTORY, 77 use of for that purpose. One female suckles four or five young ones, and beats away any other young that comes towards her ; from which circumstance I conclude they bring forth four or five young ones at a litter." This presumption seems well founded ; for the great seal, described by Mr. Parsons, had four teats, situate in such a manner as to form a square about the navel. I thought it necessary to collect every circumstance relative to these animals, which are but little known ; and it is much to be wished that some skilful traveller would give us a proper description of them, and particularly of their internal parts, as the stomach, intestines, &c. for, if we could rely on the testimonies of travellers, we should be- lieve that the sea-lions belong to the class of ruminating animals ; that they have several stomachs, and that, consequently, they are of a far distant species from the seal, or sea-calf, which certainly has but one stomach, and must be placed among the carnivorous animals. TKO 7$ buffon's THE WALRUS, MORSE, OR SEA-COW THE name of sea-cow, by which the walrus (fig* 193.) is most generally known, has been very wrongly applied,* since the animal it denotes has not the least resemblance to a cow: the denomination of sea-elephant, which others have given it is much better imagined, as it is founded on a singular and very apparent cha- racter. The walrus, like the elephant, has two large ivory tusks which shoot from the upper jaw ; and its head would entirely resemble that of the elephant if it had a trunk ; the walrus, however, not only wants that instrument, which serves the elephant as an arm and hand, but it is deprived of the use of its arms and legs ; those members being, like those of the seal, shut up within the skin, so that nothing appears outwardly but its hands and feet. Its body is long and tapering, thickest towards the neck, decreasing by degrees, and is entirely covered with a short hair. The fingers, or toes, of the hands and feet, are covered with a membrane, and * Perhaps this name, as well as that of sea-calf, has been given because the one and the other have a cry which very- much resembles the lowing of a cow and of a calf, lpsit (says pljny, speaking of the sea-calf) in somnt mugitvsy wide wtntn \uiulr* NATURAL HISTORY. 73 and terminated by short and sharp-pointed claws. On each side of the mouth are large bristles in the form of whiskers; the tongue is hollowed, and the concha of the ears are want- ing, so that, excepting the two great tusks, and the want of the cutting teeth both above and below, the walrus perfectly resembles the seal, only being much larger and stronger ; the wal- rus is commonly from twelve to sixteen feet in length, and eight or nine in circumference; whereas the largest seals are not more than seven or eight feet. The former generally frequent the same places as the seals are known to re- side in, and they are almost always found to- gether. Tiiey have the same habitudes in every respect ; but there are fewer varieties of the walrus tha»i of the seal ; and they are more attached to one particular climate, being rare- ly found except in the northern seas, so that the seal might be known to the ancients, but the walrus could not. Most travellers who have visited the north- ern seas of Asia, Europe, and America, have mentioned this animal; but Zorgdrager seems to have spoken most clearly on this subject* for which reason I shall subjoin a translation of his remarks, which were communicated to me by the Marquis de Montmirail. " There was formerly great plenty of the walru% 80 buffon's walrus and seals in the bays of Horisont and Klock, but at present there are very few. Both of them quit the water in ng tusks, and its muzzle was turned a little upwards. A sailor assured him that this animal, of which he only saw the fore part of its body, the rest being in the water, had feet. This sea-cow of le Guat's, the sen-bear of Spilsberg, and the sea-lion of Biervillas, seem to be the same animal as thedugo??^ the head of "which was sent us from the isle of France, and which, consequently, is to be met with in the southern seas, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Philippine islands: as for the rest we cannot affirm that this animal, which resem- bles the walrus by its head and tusks, has, like that, four feet. We only presume from ana- logy, and the testimony of travellers, that they have those members ; but as the analogy is not very great, nor the testimonies of travellers sufficiently precise to decide this point, we shall suspend our judgment thereon till we are able to obtain better information. THE 92 buffon's THE MANATI. THIS animal is called in French lamantin, and supposed by some to have derived that name from the lamentable cries it makes, but which is merely fabulous, as it is only a cor- ruption of the real word manati, which in the Spanish indicates an animal with hands. This animal may either be called the last of beasts or the first of fishes, for, in fact, it can- not positively be pronounced either the one or the other. The manati (Jig. 194) partakes of the nature of the former, by its two fore- feet, or hands; but the hind legs, which are almost wholly concealed in the bodies of the seal and walrus, are entirely wanting in the manati ; instead of two short feet and a small narrow tail, which the walrus car- ries in an horizontal direction, the manati has only a large tail, which spreads out like a fan, so that at first sight it seems as if the tail of the first was divided into three parts, and that in the latter they were all united into one; but NATURAL HISTORY. 93 but from a more attentive inspection, and par- ticularly by dissection, we find that there is no such union j that there are no vestiges of the bones which form the thighs and legs, and that the tail of the manati is composed of simple isolated 'vertebra?, like those of cetaceous ani- mals, who have no feet. Therefore this ani- mal partakes of the cetaceous nature in the hinder parts of its body, and of a quadruped by the two fore- feet, or hands, on each side of the breast. Oviedo seems to be the first au- thor who has given any sort of history or des- cription of the manati ; he says, " This is a very clumsy and mishapen animal, having the head thicker than that of an ox, with small eyes, and two feet, or hands, placed near the head, which serve him for the purpose of swim- ming. He has no scales, but is covered with a skin or rather a thick hide : he is a peaceable animal, and feeds upon the herbage by the river sides, which he can reach wi hout en- tirely quitting the water. To take the manati they row themselves in a boat, or oji a raft, as near the animal as possible, and then dart a very strong arrow at him, to the end of which a long cord is fastened : feeling himself wounded he instantly swims away, or plunges to 94 buffon's to the bottom ; but the cord has a cork, or piece of wood, fastened to the end of it, which serves as a buoy, and directs them which way he takes. When the animal begins to grow weak through the loss of blood, he swims to- wards the shore ; the cord is then wound up, and the animal drawn within arm's length of the boat, where they dispatch him with spears, &c. He is so heavy that he requires two oxen to draw him. His flesh is excellent eating, js much esteemed ^hen fresh, but more so when cut in pieces and pickled ; in which state it acquires the flavour of the tunny fish. Some of these animals measure more than fifteen feet in length by six in thickness; the body becomes narrow towards the tail, and then spreads gradually broader towards the end. lie has no external ears, but only two holes for the sense of hearing : his ^kin is tough and hard, a:i incb thick, of an ash colour, and has a few scattered hairs, or bristles, on it. The female has two paps on her breast, and generally brings forth two young ones at a time, which she suckles."* All these facts mentioned * These paps are very prominent during the time of gestation, and of suckling the young; but at other periods they are discernible only by the nipple. NATURAL HISTORY. 95 mentioned by Oviedo are true, and it is re- markable that Cic^n, and many others after him, should affirm, that the manati leaves the water very often to feed upon land. They have been led into this error, from the analogy of the walrus and seals, which have this na- tural habit ; but it is certain, that the manati never quits the water, and that he prefers fresh waier to salt. Clusius saw and measured the skin of one of these animals, and found it sixteen feet and a half long, and seven feet and a half broad ; the two feet were very broad, and the claws short. Gomara asserts, that he has sometimes met with them twenty feet long; and adds, that these animals frequent fresh-water rivers as well as the sea. He says, a young one was reared in a lake in the island of St. Domingo for twenty-six years ; that he was so docile and tame, that he came quietly for the food which was offered to him ; thai he was so intelligent as to come out of the water when called, and crawl to the house to receive his victuals ; that he seemed delighted with the h u man voice ; that he was fond of children, would suffer them to sit upon h's back, and carry them from one Qin\ of the lake to the other, without plunging them £6 BUFFO n's them info the water ; and that lie had no kind of fear. These circumstances cannot all be true ; some of them seem adapted to the fable of the dolphin related by the ancients, for the manati cannot possibly crawl on the ground. Herrere says little with regard to this ani- mal, and only asserts, that although very large, the manati swims with such facility, that his motion in the water is not heard ; and t hatha immediately dives to the bottom, on hearing any noise. Hernandes, who has given two figures of the manati, one in profile, and the other in front, adds very little to what other Spanish authors had said of it ; he only mentions that Ihere is a deformed beast called the mana 't\ which inhabits the Atlantic and Pacific oceans ; the descriptions of which he has chiefly taken from Ovicdo ; and Mien adds, that the hands of this animal have five nails like those of a man ; that its navel and anus are wide ; that the vulva of the female is like that of a woman, and the sexual organ of the male like that of ahorse; that the flesh and fat are like those of a hog; that the ribs and viscera are like those of a bull ; that they copulate on land,* the female lying on her back, aud that she NATURAL HISTORY. 97 *>hebrirtgs forth but one young at a time, which is of a monstrous size at i(s birth. The copu- lation of these animals cannot be effected on land, since they are unable to walk, but it is on the contrary performed in shallow water. Binet says, thai the mairati is as big as an ox, and as round as a tun ; that his head is small^ and his tail short ; that his skin is rouirh and thick like that of an elephant ; that there are some of these animals so large, that one of them will yield more than six hundred weight of good eatable flesh ; that his grease is as sweet as butter ; that they delight to be near ike mouth of rivers., where theybrowze upon the sea weeds, which grow on the banks ; that at some few leagues distant from Cayenne, they arc found in such numbers, that a few men ex- pert in darting the harpoon, might get suffi- cient to load a vessel in one day. Father Teftre. who describes the fishery of the manati, agrees almost in every respect with the authors We have quoted ; observing, however, that this animal has only four toes arid four claws on each foot, or hand, and adding, that he feeds on a short vegetable which grows oil the sea, and which he eats nearly in the same manner as the ox ; that having pastured sufficiently, lie makes to the rivers and fresh waters, where roL. ix. O he 9S BUFFO N'S he moistens his food ; and that his belly being full, he sleeps with his nose half way out of the water, so that he can be seen at a distance ; that the female brings forth two young at a time, which follow her wherever she goes ; and that when the mother is taken, they are sure of having the young, because they not only keep close to the body when she is dead, but even go continually round the vessel which is carrying her away. This last circumstance appears very suspicious, and is contradicted by other travellers, who assert, that the ma- nati never brings forth more than one at a time; which is consistent with the nature of all other large quadruped or other cetaceous animals, so that analogy alone is sufficient to prevent our believing that the manati always brings forth two. Oxmelin remarks, that the tail of the manati is placed horizontally like that of the cetaceous animals, and not vertically like those of the scaly brood ; that he has no fore teeth, but only a callosity as hard as a bone, with which he cuts the herbage ; but that he has thirty-two grinders ; that his sight is im- perfect, on account of the smallness of his eyes, which have no iris and very little moisture ; that he has an extremely small brain ; but to remedy the defect of sight, he has a very quick tar ; NATURAL HISTORY. Q9 ear ; that he has no tongue ; that the parts of generation are more like those of the human species than any other: that the milk of the female, which he asserts to have tasted, is very good ; that they produce but one young at a time, which they embrace and hold with their hands ; that the mother suckles it during a year, after which it is able to provide for it- self: that this animal has fifty-two vertebrae ; that it feeds like the turtle, but can neither walk nor crawl upon land. All these facts are very exact, and even that of the fifty-two vertebrae ; for M. Daubenton in one he dissect- ed found twenty-eight vertebrae in the tail, sixteen in the back, and six, or rather seven in the neck. This traveller is only deceived with respect to the tongue, which is not defi- cient in the manati, but affixed to the lower jaw almost to the extremity. In the Voyage to the American islands, printed at Paris, 1722, we meet with a toler- able good description of the manati, and the manner in which it is taken by the harpoon. The author perfectly agrees with all the prin- cipal facts we have already mentioned ; but lie observes, u that this animal is become very rare in the Antilles since the coasts have been inhabited ; and that the one which he saw and measured, was fourteen feet nine inches, from the J 00 r.n ton's the muzzle to the tail: his head was very thick, with a large mouth and lips, which were furnished with coarse hairs; his eyes small in proportion to his, head ; and lie had only two holes in the sides instead of ears ; his neck was very thick and short, and but lor the wrinkles occasioned by his motions, it would be impossible to tell his head from his body. Some authors pretend (he adds) that this animal makes use of his hands, or fins, to crawl upon land : I particularly endeavoured to inform myself respecting this fact, but could not hear of any person who had seen him out of water ; and indeed, it is impossible for him to walk or. crawl? since its fore-feet, or hands, onljr serve the female to hold the young" while they suckle- The female has two round breasts, which I measured ; they were each seven inches in diameter, and about four in their elevation : the nipple was about an inch thick ; the body was eight feet two inches in circumference ; the tail was like a large bat- tledore, about nineteen inches long, fifteen inches broad at the widest part, and about three inches thick at its extremity. The skin on the back was about double the thick- ness of an ox's hide, but muck thinner on the belly ; it was of a slate colour and of very coarse grain ; the hairs, or bristles, were of the NATURAL HISTORY. 101 the same colour as the skin, thinly scattered, hut very thick, and long. This animal weighed about eight hundred pounds; and with it the young one was taken, which was nearly three feet long. A part of its tail was roasted, the flesh of which was as good and as delicate as veal. The herb upon which these animals feed is about eight or ten inches long, narrow pointed, tender, and of a fine green colour. This herb is so plenty in many places on the coasts, that the bottom of the sea has the appearance of a verdant meadow, and upon which the turtles also feed, &c." Father Magnin de Fribourg says, that the manati feeds on such grass on the shores, as it is able to reach without quitting the water ; that its eyes are not bigger than a filberd nut ; that its ears are so narrow, that a needle can scarcely be passed into them ; that within the ears are found two small bones, which the Indians wear about their necks ; and that its cry re- sembles the lowing of a cow. Gumilla states, that there are immense num- bers of manati in the Great lakes of Oronooko, K These animals (says he) weigh from five to seven hundred pounds each ; they feed upon grass; their eyes are small, and the holes for their ears still smaller. They pasture on the sea 102 BUFFOX's sea shores when the river is low. The female always brings forth two young ones, which she carries at her paps, and grasps them so strongly with her two hands that they cannot fall off, the milk of the female is very thick. Under its thick skin, four beds, or layers, are met with, two of which are of fat, and the other two of a very delicate and savoury flesh, which, when roasted, has the smell of pork and the taste of veal. These animals, when a storm of rain approaches, leap out of the water to a considerable height." Gumilla seems to be mistaken, as well as Tertre, in asserting that the female brings forth two young at a time, since it is almost a certainty, as has been already observed, that she produces no more than one. Upon the whole, M. de Condamine, who favoured us with a drawing, which he himself made of the manali in the Amazon river, speaks with greater precision than any other author on the natural habits of this animal. " Its flesh and fat (says he) have a great re- semblance to veal. Father Acuna makes its resemblance to the ox still more complete, by giving it horns, which Nature never provided. It is not, properly speaking, amphibious, since it cannot entirely leave the water, having only two flat fins close to the head, about sixteen inches NATURAL HISTORY. 103 inches long, and which serve the animal instead of arms and hands . It only raises its head out of the water to feed on the herbage upon the shore. That of which I drew the figure was a female ; it was about seven feet and a half long, and its greatest breadth two feet : I have since seen some much larger. The eyes of tliis animal have no proportion to the size of its body ; the orifice of its ears is still less, and only seems like a hole made by a pin. The raanati is not peculiar to the Amazon river, being not less common in the Oronooko. It is also found, though less frequently, in the Oyapoc, and many other rivers in the environs of Cayenne, and on the coast of Guiana, and probably in other parts." This is nearly all the precise matter which we can collect respecting this animal. It were to be wished that the inhabitants of Cayenne, among whom there are several admirers of Na- tural History, would make some observations on this animal, and give us a description of its internal parts, especially those of respiration, digestion and generation. There seems, though we are not certain, to be a great bone in the genital member, and a foramen ovale }n the heart ; that its lungs are of a singular conformation ; 104 buffon's conformation ; and that it lias several fcto- machs, like ruminating animals. To conclude: the species of the manati is not confined to the seas and rivers of the New World, but exists also in those of Africa. M. Adanson saw them at Senegal, whence he brought one of their heads, which he presented io me, and at the same time communicated the following description of this animal, which he made on the spot, and which I have thought it proper wholly to transcribe. u I saw many of these animals, the largest was not more than eight feet long, and weighed about eight hun- dred pounds. A female, which was five feet three inches long, weighed only one hundred and ninety-four pounds. They are of a dark ash colour, and have hairs scattered over their bodies, very long, and like bristles. The head is conical, and of a middling size, with respect to the bulk of the body. The eyes are round and very small ; the iris is of a deep blue, and the pupil black. The muzzle is almost cylin- drical ; its cheeks are nearly of an equal breadth, and the lips are fleshy and very thick. The only teeth they have either in the upper or lower jaw are grinders. The tongue is of an oval form, and joined almost to the end of the lower NATURAL HISTORY. 105 lower jaw. It is remarkable that almost every author and (raveller have described this animal with cars. I have not been able to perceive a hole sufficient even to admit a small probe. It has t o arms, or fins, placed close to the head, which is not distinguishable from the rest of the body by any kind of neck, nor even any apparent shoulders. These arms are nearly cylindrical, composed of three articulations, the foremost of uhich is flat, and like the palm of the hand, the fingers of which arc only to be distinguished by four claws of a bright brownish red colour; its tail is horizon- tal, like that of the whale, and is partly of the form of a baker's shovel. The female has two breasts, rather elliptic than round, placed near the arm-pits. The skin is thin on the belly, thick on the back, but thickest of all on the head. The fat is white, and two or three inches thick ; the flesh is of a pale red colour, and more delicate than veal. The lolof ne- groes call this animal lereou ; it feeds on herbage, and is to be found at the mouth of the Black Sea." By this description we find that the manati of Senegal does not differ in any particular from that of Cayenne ; and from a comparison made of the head of the Senegal manati with that of a foetus of the Cayenne lamantin by vol. ix. P M. Daubenton, 106 BUFFO n'S M. Daubenton, he presumes (hat they are of the same species. The testimony of travellers also agrees with onr opinion ; Dam pier in par- ticular speaks positively, and his observations deserve a place in our history. " It is not only in Blewfield river, which springs between the rivers Nicaraga and Yeraga, that I have seen the manati : I have also seen them in the Bay cf Campeachy, on the coast of Bocca del Drago, and Bocca del Toro, in ihe river of Darien, and in the small southern islands of Cuba: I have .heard it said that there are a few found on the norih of Jamaica, and many in Surinam river, which is a very low country. I have likewise seen them at Mindanca, one of the Philippine islands, and on the coast of New Holland. This animal is fond of brackish water, therefore he most commonly inhabits those rivers which border on the sea. This is possibly the reason why we never meet with anv in the South Seas, where the coast is £ene- rally high, and the water very deep near land, except in the Bay of Panama : but even there the manati is not to be met with ; but the West-Indies being, as it were, a great bay composed of a number of small ones, are ge- nerally low land and shallow water, and con- sequently afFord a food which is agreeable to the manati. They are sometimes seen in salt water, NATURAL HISTORY. 107 Water, sometimes in fresh, but seldom very far from shore. Those which inhabit the sea, and places where there are no rivers that they can enter, come to the mouth of the nearest fresh- water rivers which they find, once or twice in twenty-four hours. They feed on a narrow herbage which grows on the sides of the shores, especially in places where the tides or currents are not very strong. They never go on shore, but always keep in a depth of water where they can swim. Their flesh is sweet, and very good food ; their skin is also of great utility. The mamiti and the tortoise are commonly found in the same parts of the world, and feed on the same herbage."* THE NOMENCLATURE OF APES. IN the history of these animals we shall not follow the pedantic method of schools, which lays * A great number of manatis are to be found along the low and marshy coasts, and in the vast lakes of Moyacare, the most southern part of French Guiana, above the Oya- pok. Small vessels from Cayenne go to the fishery of these animals, and bring their flesh salted, a gross aliment which is kept for the negroes. This fishery, which might become an object of important commerce, should be encouraged; it would require a small establishment epon the coast, and would facilitate the means of acquiring some knowledge of a country now unknown, and which, at the same time that it opened new sources of commerce, would prove also an inexhaustible mine of wealth to Natural History. 108 BUFFO n's lays down arbitrary maxims as real, and fal- sifies as truth; such documents arc eagerly im- bibed by children, but arc judiciously rejected by men, if not founded on solid principles. We shall, therefore, to avoid such imaginary methodical distributions, Which have been of no other use than to heap a multiplicity, and even distinct species, of animals into one indis- criminate mass. What I call an Ape is an animal with a flat visage, and without a tail, whose teeth, fingers, nails, and hands, resemble those of the human species, and who also ualks upright on its two feet. This definition, drawn from the nature of the animal, and its resemblance to man, will exclude every animal that has a tail, or a long snout, crooked or pointed claws, or whose na- ture obliges them to walk more willingly on four feet than on two. After this fixed and precise rule, let us examine to what animals the name of Ape can rropcrly be applied. The ancients knew only one ; the pithecos of the Greeks, and the simia of the Latins, is the real ape, and on which Aristotle, Pliny, and Galen, have instituted all their physical com- parisons, and founded all their relations of the ape to mankind. But this ape of the ancients, which so greatly resembles man in its exter- nal form, and still more in its internal organi- zation, NATURAL HISTORY. 109 zafion, nevertheless differs from him in an essential point, namely, magnitude. The size of the human species is generally above five feet, while that of the pithecos is seldom more than a fourth of that height. Therefore, if this animal had a still greater resemblance (o the human species, the ancients would have had reason to regard it only as an homunculus, a dwarf, or a pigmy, capable only of attacking small animals, while man knew how to subdue the elephant, and even to conquer the lion. But since the discovery of the southern parts of Africa and India, another animal of this kind has been found, which possesses this at- tribute of size ; an ape as tail and as strong as man, and equally as ardent after a woman as its own females ; a species winch are sagacious enough to make use of stones to attack their enemies, and sticks to defend themselves, and which resembles the human species still more than the pithecos, for, independently of its hav- ing no tail, a flat face, arms, hands, teeth, and nails, like those of a man, and, like him walk- ing erect, it has a kind of visage, with features^ approaching to those of mankind : its ears are of the same form; ithasa beard on its chin, and not more hair on its body than man in his na- tural state. From these resemblances the more polished 110 buffon's polished Indians have not hesitated to associate it among the human species, by the name of orang-outangs or wild man of the woods ; while the Negroes, who are really as savage, and al- most as ugly, as those animals, and who are not of opinion that civilization exalts our na- ture, have denominated it pongo, which sig- nifies a beast, and has no relation to man. In fact this orang-outang is not only a brute but a very singular one, which man cannot look upon, without contemplating himself, and be- ing convinced that his external form is not the most essential part of his nature. Here then are two animals, the pithecos and the orang-outang, which must be ranked among the ape kind. There is also a third, to \vb ich, though more deformed , we cannot refuse that appellation ; until very lately this animal was scarcely known, it was brought from the East Indies by the name of gibbon ; like the other two it walks erect, is without a tail, and has a flat face ; but its arms, instead of being proportioned to its height, are of such extra- ordinary length, that when it stands erect on its two feet, it touches the ground with its hands, without the smallest inclination of its body. Next to these apes, we meet with another race NATURAL HISTORY. Ill race of animals, which we shall indicate by the generic name ofthe baboon ; and .to distinguish them clearly from every other animal ofthe kind, it is necessary to observe that the baboon has a short tail, a long face, a broad muzzle, with canine teeth, larger in proportion than that of man, and callosities on its rump. By this definition, we exclude from this race all the apes which have no tails, all the monkies whose tails are as long, or 1 >nger than their bodies, and all the makis, loris, and other four- handed animals, that have their muzzles sharp and pointed. The ancients never had a proper name for these animals ; Aristotle alone has pointed out one of those baboons by the name of simia porcaria, but gives a very imperfect indication of it in other respects. The Italians first called it babutno, the Germans baxion, the French babouin, the English baboon, and every modern author, who. has written of it m Latin, papio. We shall therefore term it baboon, to distinguish it from the o her species since discovered in the southern provinces of Africa and India. We are acquainted with three kinds of these animals. 1. The baboon, which is found in Arabia, &c. and which, pro- bably, is the simia porcaria of Aristotle. 2. The mandrill, which is larger than the baboon, whose face is of a bluish colour, and furrowed with 112 buffon's with deep and oblique wrinkles ; this is a na- tive of Guinea, and the hottest parts of Africa. S. The ouanderou, which is less than the baboon and mandrill; its head and face is surrounded with a very thick and long hair, and has a large white beard ; it is seen in Ceylon, Malabar, and other southern parts of India. Thus we have precisely defined three species of the ape, and three of the baboon, and all of them very distinctly differing from each other. But as Nature acts on one regular plan, con- nected and extended throughout all her works, and as her progress is always by minute de- grees, there must be an in er mediate species be- tween the ape and the baboon. This interme- diate species actually exists, and is, in fact, to be fount! in the ma got, which fills up the chasm between the other two. It differs from the first in having along muzzle and large canine teeth ; and varies from the second, in not hav- ing any tail, although :here is a small protu- berance of skin at that part, which has some- thing of that appearance. This animal, con- sequently, is neither an ape, nor a ba- boon, yet, at the ,e, the zebra, and the ass ; and, by adding the elephant,! he rh mocero>, the hippopotamus, and the camel, whose feet, though terminated by mils, are solid, and only serve for the pur- pose of walking, we shall have seven species to which the name of quadruped perfectly applies. There is a much greater number of cloven- footed than whole-hoofed animals. The oxen, the sheep, the goat, the antelope, the bubalus, the lama, the pacos, the elk, the reii-deer, the stag, the fallow-deer, the roe-buck, &c. are all cloven -footed, and compose all together full forty-species. Thus, we have already fifty ani- mals, ten whole hoofed, and forty cloven- footed, to \>hich the name of quadruped lias been \ ightly applied. In the digitated animals, the lion, tiger, panther, leopard, lynx, cat, wolf, fox, dog, hyaena, civel, badger, weasel, ferret, NATURAL HISTORY. 125 ferret j porcupine, hedge hog, armadillo, ant- eaters, and hog, which last constitutes the shade between digitated and cloven-footed tribes,add more than forty other species, to which the name of quadruped also applies in all the rigour of its acceptation; because, though their fore- feet are divided into four or five toes, they never use them as hands ; but all the other digitated species who use their fore- feet to hold and carry fpud to their mouths, are not, in strict propriety, quadrupeds. Those species, which are also forty in number, form an intermediate class between quadrupeds and four-handed ani- mals, and are in fact neither one nor the other. Therefore, to more than a fourth of our animals, the name of quadruped does not apply ; and with more than one half it does not agree in all the extent of its acceptation. The four-handed animals fill up the great chasm between the quadruped and the human species. The two handed are in t!ie distance between man and the ce.'aceous tribes. The bipeds with wings are the shade between qua- drupeds and birds ; and the digitated species who use their fore- fret as hands, fill up al! the degrees between the quadrupeds and the four- handed kinds. But this subject is too extensive to be here pur ueci ; however useful it might be 126 buffon's be to give a distinct knowledge of animals, it is still more so by furnishing' us with a new proof, that not any of our definitions are pre- cise, nor our general terms exact, when speci- fically applied to objects, or to beings which they represent. But why are these definitions and general terms, which seem to be the master-pif>ce of invention, so exceedingly defective ? Is this error the defect of human understanding ? or rather, is it not an incapacity, or pure inabi- lity, of combining, and perceiving a number of objects atone view? Let us compare the works of nature witli those of man : let us ex- amine how both operate, and then enquire whether the human mind, however active and extensive, can follow the same route, without being lost either in the immensity of space, the obscurity of time, or in the infinite combinations of beings? Let a man direct his mind loany object if he would avoid being misled, he must walk in a direct line, pass over the least space, and employ the least possible time to accomplish his end. But in this pursuit, what a number of reflections and combinations must he make to avoid those deceitful and fallacious roads which at first offer themselves in such numbers, that it re^ quires NATURAL HISTORY. 127 quires the greatest and nicest discernment to choose ihe true find direct path? This path, however, is not beyond the depth of the hu- man mind ; and by this only sure and solid method he arrives at the destined point of view; but if he seeks another point, it can only be obtained by another line. The train of our ideas is a delicate thread, which oidy ex- tends in length without any other dimensions ; while Nature, on the contrary, does not take a single step, without extending on all sides, and passing at once through the three dimen- sions of length, breadth and thickness ; while man attains but one single point, she embraces all, and penetrates into every part of a solid mass. By the power of an, and length of time, our statuaries form a figure which ex- ternally resembles the object proposed ; each point of this surface requires a thousand com- binations. Tiieir genius travels over as many lines as there are lineaments in the figure, and the least false step would deform it. This piece of marble, *S surfaces, we carinot penetrate the substance; while, Nature, on the contrary, designs and enters into the depth of things ; she produces forms almost instantaneously ; she at once ex- pands them in all their dimensions ; as soon as her movements reach the surface, the pene- trating powers with which she is animated, operate internally. The smallest atom, when she chooses to make use of it, is obliged to obey her will. Her actions, therefore, extend over all; she travels above, below, to the right and left, and consequently, she not only encom- passes the surface, but every ] article of the mass. What difference there consequently is in the result? What comparison can be made between a statue and an organised body ? But also what inequality in their powers, and how disproportioned the instruments ! Man can only make use of the power he possesses. Confined to a small quantity of motion, which he can only communicate by impul- sion, he can only exett himself upon sur- faces ; since the power of impulsion in gene- ral is only transmitted by superficial con- tact He only sees and touches, therefore, the surfaces of bodies, and when he attempts to proceed further, though he opens, divides, and separates, he still touches nothing more than surfaces. NATURAL HISTORY. 12§ surfaces. To penetrate the interior parts of bodies, he should be possessed of a portion of that power winch acts upon the mass, or of gravity, which is Nature's chief instrument. It is, therefore, the defect of instruments which prevents the art of man from approaching that of Nature. His figures, his pictures, his de- signs, are only surfaces, or imitations of sur- faces, because the images he receives by his senses are all superficial, and he is unable to give them the internal parts. What is true with regard t6 the arts is the same as to sciences, only that the lat(er is less confined, because the mind is the instrument, and which in the former is subordinate to the senses. But in the sciences the mind com- mands the senses, as its only endeavour is to search into objects, and not to operate on them; to compare, and not imitate them. The mind, though thus cramped by the senses, though often abused by their false reports, is, notwith- standing, neither less pure nor less active. Man, who has a natural desire to knowledge, began by rectifying, and demonstrating the errors of the senses. He has treated them as mechanical organs, as instruments, the effects of which must be left to experience. Pursuing still his desire of knowledge, he has travelled vol. ix, S on. 230 BUFI-ON^ on with the balance in one hand, and the cora* pass in the other, and has measured both time and space. Thus, lie has recognized all the exterior parts of Nature's works, but not being able to penetrate her internal parts by his senses, he has drawn his conclusions and form- ed a judgment of them by analogy and com- parison. He discovered that there exists a general force in matter, quite different from that of impulsion ; a force which does not come within the compass of our senses, and which, though we are unable to make use of, Nature employs as an universal agent* He has de- monstrated, that this force belongs equally to all matter, in proportion to its mass or real quantity ; that its action extends to immense distances, decreasing as the space augments. After \vards,turning his eyes u pon living beings, he found, that heat was another force neces- sary to their production; that light was a matter endowed with an unbounded elasticity and activity ; that the formation and expan- sion of organized beings were the effects of a combination of all these forces ; that the ex- tension and growth of animal or vegetable bodies, follow exactly the laws of attraction, and are effected by an increase of all three dimensions at the same time; and that a mould* NATURAL HISTORY. 131 mould, when once formed, must, according to these laws of affinity, produce a succession of others exactly resembling the original. By combining these attributes, common to animal •and vegetable Nature, he discovered, that there existed in both an inexhaustible and re- versible fund of orsrauicand living substance; ■a substance as real as the unformed matter; a substance which continues always in its live as the other does in its inactive state ; a substance universally diffused, passing from vegetables to animals by means of nutrition, returning from animals to vegetables by the process of putrefaction, and maintaining an incessant cir- culalion for the animation of beings. He also remarked, that these organic particles existed in every organized body ; that they were combined in greater or less quantities writh dead matter ; that they were more abundant in animals where all is full of life, and more scarce in vegetables where the dead matter predominates, and the living seems to be ex- tinct ; where the organic matter, overpowered by the rude, has neither progressive motion, sensation, heat, nor life, and is only manifest- ed by its unfolding and re-production. Re- flecting on the manner each operates, he dis- covered, that every living being is a mould ihat possesses the power of assimilating the substances J32 BUFFOiVs substances by which it is nourished; that growth is an effect of this assimilation, that the unfolding of a living body is not a simple augmentation of bulk, but an extension in every dimension, and a penetration of new matter into every part of the whole mass ; that those parts increasing in proportion to the whole, and the whole in proportion to the parts, die form is preserved, and remains al- ways the same till the growth is completed ; that when the body has acquired all its ex- tent, the same matter heretofore employed in the augmentation, is sent back as superfluous from every part to which it had been assimi- lated ; a id that, by uni(i:ig in one common point, it forms a new being, perfectly like the first, and which to attain the same dimensions, requires only to be expanded by the same mode of nutrition. He also observed that man, quadrupeds, cetaceous animals, birds, reptiles, insects, trees, plants, and herbs, were all nourished, unfolded, and reproduced by the same universal law ; and that the manner of their nutriiion and generation appearing so different, although dependent on one general and common cause, was because it could not operate bui in a mode relative to the form of each i articular species of being. To acquire these grand truths, required a succession of agesj NATUH AT/ HISTORY. IS3 ages, and gradual investigation, but having obtained so much, lie began to com] -are different objects together ; and to distinguish one from the other, he gave them particular names, and invented general denominations to reunite them under one point of view. He observed, by taking the body of man as the physical model of every living animal, and by compar- ing and examining every living animal in their several parts, that the form of every thing that breathes is nearly the same ; that the anatomy of a man and an ape are similar ; that every animal has the same organization, the same senses, the same viscera, the same bones, t lie same flesh, the same motion of the fluids, and the same action in the solids. In all of them he has found a heart, veins, and arteries ; the same organs of circulation, respiration, diges- tion, nutrition, and secretion : Uig same solid structure, erected with the same materials, and put together nearly in the same manner. This plan he found to proceed uniformly from mankind to the monkey, from the monkey to quadrupeds, from quadrupeds to the ceta- ceous animals, and sj on to birds, fish, and reptiles. This plan, I say, when wed com- prehended by the human understanding, ex- hibits a faithful picture of animated nature, and affords the moot simple and general view under 15-4 uuiroN's irnder which she can possibly be considered , and when we extend it by passing from the animal (o the vegetable, we shall find this plan, which we at first found varying only by shades, degenerate by degrees from reptiles to insects, from insects to worms, from worms to zoo- phytes, and from zoophytes to planls ; and though changed in all its exterior parls, ne- vertheless, still preserving the same character; the principal features of which arc nutrition, expansion, and reproduction. These features are general and common to every organized substance, they are eternal and divine ; and, far from being effaced or destroyed by time, are only renewed and rendered more plain and evident. If, from this great picture of resemblances, in which the living universe presents itself as but one family, we pass to tliat of (lie differ- ences, wherein each species claims a separate place, and a distinct portrait, we shall pcrceiyc, that excepting some of the larger species, such as the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopo- tamus, the tiger, and the lion, every oilier seems to unite with its neighbouring kind, and fo form groupes of degraded similitudes, or gene- ra, which our nomcnclalors have represented in a network of figures, some of which are con- nected by the iVt, and others by the teeth, horns* NATURAL HISTORY. 135 horns, hair, and others by still smaller affinities. And even the apes, whose form appears to be the most perfect, that is, approaches nearest to that of man, are represented confusedly, and require very accurate observations to distin- guish one from theother, because the privilege of separate species is less owing to form than size. Man himself, although a single speciej, and infinitely removed from that of all other animals, yet being only of a middle size, has more approximations than the larger kinds. We shall find in the history of the orang-outang that if we were only to a tend to the figure, we might look on that animal either as the termi- nation of the human species, or the commence- ment.of the ape ; because, except the intellect, he is not deficient in any one thing which we possrss, and because, in his body, he differs less from man than from the other animals to which we have given the denomination of apes. The mind, thought, and speech, therefore. do not depend on the form or organization of the body. Nothing more strongly proves that they are peculiar gifts bestowed on man alone, than that theorang-ou'ang which neither speaks nor thinks, has, nevertheless) the body, the limbs, the senses, the skull, and the tongue exactly similar to man. He can counterfeit: every motion of the human specie^ and yet cannot 136 BUFFO n's cannot perfectly perform one single act ; which may possibly be owing to a defect of educa- tion, or perhaps yet more to an error in our judgment. You unjustly compare, it may be said, an ane, who is a native of the forests^ with the man who resides in polished society. To form a prope judgment between them, a savage mau and an ape should be viewed to- gether; for we have no just idea of man in a pure state of nature. The head covered with bristly hairs, or with curled wool ; the face partly hid by a long beard, and still longer hairs in the front, which surround his eyes, destroy his august character, and make them appear sunk in his head, like those of the brutes \ the lips thick and projecting, the nose flat, the aspect wild or stupid ; the ears, body, and limbs are covered with hair ; the nails long, thick, and crooked ; a callous substance like a horn under the -oles of the feet ; the breasts of the female long and flab- by, and the skin of her belly hanging down to her knees ; the children wallowing in filthy and crawling on their hands and feet; and the father and mother sitting on their hams, forming a hideous appearance, rendered more so by being besmeared all over with stinking grease. Tins sketch, drawn from a savage Hot- tentot NATURAL HISTORY. 1ST tentot, is still a flattering portrait, for there is as great a distance between a man in a pure state of nature and a Hottentot, as there is be- tween a Hottentot and us. But if we wish to compare the human species with that of the ape, we must add to it the affinities of orga- nization, the agreements of temperament, the vehement desire of male apes for women, th§ like conformation of the genitals in both sexes, the periodic emanations of the females, the compulsive or voluntary intermixture of the negrcsses wi(h the apes, the produce of which has united into both species ; and then consi- der, supposing them not of the same species, how difficult it is to discover the interval by which they are separated. I acknowledge, if we were forced to judge by external appearance alone, the ape might be taken for a variety in the human species. The Creator has not formed man's body On a model absolutely different from that of the mere ani- mal; he has comprehended his figure, as well as that of every other animal, under one general plan, but at the same time that he has given him a material form, similar to that of the ape, he infused this animal body with a divine spirit. If he had granted the same fa- vour, not to the ape, but to the meanest ani- vol. ix. T mal, 138 btjffon's mal, "whose organization seems to us to be the worst of all constructed beings, this animal would soon have become the rival of man. Quickened by his spirit it would have excelled every other animal, by having the power of thought and speech. Therefore, whatever re- semblance there may be between the Hottentot and the ape, the interval which separates them is immense, since the former is endowed with the faculties of thinking and speaking. Who will ever be able to tell in what the organization of an idiot differs from that of another man?yet the defect is certainly in (lie material organs, since the idiot has a soul like another person. Now, since in mankind, where the whole structure is entirely conformable, and perfectly similar, a difference so trifling as to be entirely imperceptible is sufficient to de- stroy thought, we must not be astonished that it never appears in the ape, which lias not the necessary principle. The action of the soul in general is distinct and independent of matter. But as it has pleased the Divine Author to unite it with the body, the exercise of its particular actions depends on the state of the material organs ; and this dependance is not only apparent from the ex- ample of idiots but from persons afflicted with delirium, NATURAL HISTORY. 139 delirium, from infants who cannot think, from healthful men when asleep, and from very old people, after the power of thinking is gone. Even the principle of education seems to con- sist not so much in instructing the mind, or bringing its operation to perfection, as in mo- difying the material organs, and putting them into the most favourable condition|for exercis- ing the thinking principle. Now there are two kinds of educations which should be care- fully distinguished, as their effects are quite different ; the education of the individual, which is common both to man and the other animals, and that of the species which belongs to man alone. A young animal, as well from incitement as example, learns in a few weeks to perform all the actions of its parents : a child requires a number of years to attain this degree of perfection, because when born its growth and strength is incomparably less for- ward than in young animals. In the first years the mind is a void relatively to what it becomes in future. A child, therefore, is much slower in receiving individual education than that of the brute ; but for this very reason it becomes susceptible of that of the species. The multi- plicity of aids, and the continual cares, which for a long time, the weak state of the infant exact, entertain and increase the attachment of 1 40 buffon's of its parents, and while they are attending to the care of the body, they cultivate the mind. The time required to strengthen the first, turns to the profit of the latter. In the generality of animals the corporeal faculties are more ad- vanced in two months than those of an infant in two years ; there is, therefore, twelve times as much time employed in its individual edu- cation, without reckoning what is still remain- ing to acquire after this period, without con- sidering that animals quit their young as soon as they are able to provide for themselves, and that soon after this separation they know each other no more, so that all attachment, and all education, ceases in them at the very moment assistance is no longer necessary. Now this time of education being so short, its effects must be very small ; and it is even astonish- ing that animals acquire in two months what- ever is necessary for their use during the rest of life : and if we suppose a child, in an equal space of time, should become sufficiently form- ed and strong to leave its parents, and never to return to them for assistance, would there be any sensible difference between this child and the brute animal? However ingenious and able the parents were, could they be able to prepare and modify its organs in so short a space of time, or to establish the least communication of NATURAL HISTORY. Hi *>f thought between their minds and his ? Could they be able to excite his memory by impres- sions sufficiently reiterated ? Could they even modify or unfold theirorgans of speech? ^So, for before the child can pronounce a single word his car must have received repeated im- pressions of the sound expressing that word ; and, before he can be able to apply or pro- nounce it properly, the same combination of the word, and the object to which it belongs, must be frequently presmted to him. Educa- tion, therefore, which alone can expand the powers of the mind, will be unremittingly continued for a length of time; if it should cea^e, not at the end of two months, as in ani- mals, but even when twelve months old, the mind of the child, which could have received no impression, would remain inactive, like that of an idiot, the defect of whose organs prevents the reception of knowledge. This reasoning would apply with double force if we suppose the child born in a pure state of na- ture, if it had only a Hottentot mother for its tutoress, and that at the age of two months it was able to separate from her, and live with- out her care and assistance : — would not this child be worse than an idiot, and entirely on a par with the brutes ? But in this state of na- ture, 142 buffon's ture, the first education, that is, the education of necessity, exacts as much time as in the civilized state, because in both the child is equally weak, and equally slow in its growth, and consequently it has need of the care of its parents for an equal portion of time. In short, it would infallibly perish if abandoned before the age of three years. Now this necessary habitude, so long continued between the mo- ther and the child, is sufficient to communi- cate to it all that she possesses ; and though we should falsely suppose, that this mother, in a state of nature, possesses not any one giff, not even that of speech, would not this long habitude with her child produce a language? Thus this state of pure nature, wherein we suppose man to be without thought and speech, is imaginary, and never had existence. This needful and long intercourse of parents with theirchildrcn produces society in the midst of a desart. The family understand each other by signs and sounds ; and this first ray of intel- ligence, when cherished, cultivated, and com- municated, unfolds, in the process of time, all the buds of thought; and as this habitual inter- course could not sustain itself so long without producing mutual signs and sounds, always re- peated and gradually engraven on the memory of NATURAL HISTORY. 143 of the child, would consequently becomecon- stant and intelligible expressions ; though the list of words is short, it still forms a language, which v, ill soon become more extended as the family increases, and will always follow the steps of society in improvement. Society being formed, the education of the child is no longer individual, for then the parents communicate to it not only what they possess from Nature, but also what they have received from their ancestors, and from the society of which they form a part. It is no longer a communication between detached individuals, confined like animals to the transmission of simple ■faculties, but an institution of which the whole species partakes, and whose produce constitutes] the bond and basis of society. Even among brute animals, though deprived of the thinking principle, those whose educa- tion is the longest are also those which seem to have the greatest share of intelligence : the elephant, who takes the longest time in com- pleting its growth, and which requires the assistance of its mother for the whole of the first year, is also the mast intelligent animal. The Guinea-pig, which requires only three weeks to accomplish its growth, and be in agc- Herating state, is'perhaps, fortius reason alone, one 141 buffon's cne of tlje most stupid animals in Nature. With respect to the ape, with a view to ascer- tain whose nature we have gone into this in- vestigation, whatever resemblance he may hear- to man, jet his affinity to (he brutes is evident from the moment of his birth ; he is then propGrtionably stronger, and more completely formed than the infant, and the time of his growth bears no comparison ; the assistance of his mother is only necessary during a few months ; his education is purely individual, and consequently as sterile as that of other animals. The ape, therefore, notwithstanding his re- semblance to the human form, is a brute, and so far from being second in our species, he is not even the first in the order of animals, because he is not the most intelligent among them ; therefore it is only on account of the corporeal resemblance that prejudice has been formed ia favour of the great faculties of the ape. He resembles man it is said both externally and internally, and therefore he must not only imitate us, but also of his own accord, act in the same manner as we do. We have seen that every action which we call human is relative to society : that they depend, at first on the mind > and afterwards on education, the physical prinr ciple NATURAL HISTORY. 145 ciple of which is the necessity there is for the long intercourse between parents and children : that this intercourse is very short with the ape ; that, like other animals, he only receives an education purely individual, and is not sus- ceptible of any other ; consequently he cannot act like man, since no action of the ape has the same principle, nor the same end. With respect to imitation, which appears to be the strongest and most striking character in the ape kind, and which the vulgar refer to him as a peculiar talent, before we decide, we must ex- amine whether ihis imitation be spontaneous or forced. Does the ape imitate the human species from inclination, or from possessing an innate capacity of performing those actions without choice or exertion ? I willingly appeal to all those who have observed this animal without prejudice, and I am convinced they will agree with me, that there is nothing volun- tary in their imitation. The monkey having arms and hands, makes use of them as we do, but without any idea of copying our example. The similitude of his limbs and organs neces- sarily produces motions resembling ours; be- ing formed like man he must be enabled to move like him ; but this similarity of motion by no means proves that he acts from imita- Voiir ix. U tion- H6 buffon's lion. Let us, for instance, construct (wo pen-- dulums of the same form, and give them an equal motion, would it not be absurd to say that these machines imitate each other ? It is the same with respect to the ape, relatively to the body of man ; they are two machines, simi- larly constructed, and by the impulse of Nature move nearly in the same manner : however, parity must not be considered as imitation ; the one depends on matter, and the other exists only in reason. Imitation supposes a design ■of copying ; the ape is incapable of forming this design, which requires a train of thought and judgment; for this reason, man, if he choose, can imitate the ape, but the ape can- not have an idea of imitating man. This parity is no more than the physical part of imitation, and not so complete as the si- militude, from which, however, it proceeds as an immediate effect. The ape resembles man more in his body and limbs than in the use he makes of them. By observing the ape atten- tively we shall perceive that all his motions are sudden, intermittent, and precipitate ; and to compare them with these of man we must suppose a different model. Every action of the ape strongly partakes of his education, which is purely animal ; and they appear tob© extravagant, NATURAL HISTORY. 147 extravagant, ridiculous, and inconsequential, because we judge of them by our own, which is a false comparison. As his nature is viva- cious, his temperament warm, his disposition petulant, and none of his affections have been polished by education, all his habitudes are excessive, and more resemble the actions of a lunatic than those of a man, or even those of a peaceable animal : from the same reason we find him indocile, and receiving with difficul- ty the impressions we wish him to imbibe. He is insensible to kindness, and only to be ren- dered obedient through fear of chastisement. He may be kept in captivity, but not in a do- mestic state. Always sullen, stubborn, or making grimaces, he may rather be said to be subdued than tamed ; therefore none of this species has ever been domesticated in any part of the world, and consequently is more distant from man than most other animals, for docili- ty supposes some analogy betwixt the giver and the receiver of instruction ; a relative qua- lity, which cannot be exercised but when there is a certain number of common faculties in both, which only differ from each other be- cause they are active in the master and pas- sive in the scholar. Now the passive qualities -of the ape have less relation to the active qua- lities 118 BUFFON?S lities of man than those of the dog or elephant, ■who only require good treatment to receive the kind and even delicate sentiments of a faithful attachment, voluntary obedience, grateful ser- vice, and an unreserved and ready attention to the commands of their master. The ape is, therefore, further removed from the human species in relative qualities, than most other animals : He likewise differs greatly by temperament. The human species can dwell in every climate; he lives and multiplies in the northern as well as in the southern re- gions ; but the ape lives with difficulty io tem- perate countries, and can only multiply in the hottest parts of the earth. This difference of temperament supposes others in organiza- tion, -which though concealed, are no less real ; it must also have a great influence on his na- tural dispositions. The excess of heat so ne- cessary to this animal renders all his affections, and all his qualities, excessive; and we need not seek for any other cause to account for his petulance, his lubricity, and his other pas- sions, which seem to be as violent as they are extravagant. Thus the ape, which philosophers, as well as the generality of people, have regarded as a being difficult to define, and the nature of which NATURAL HISTORY. 149 which was at least equivocal, and intermediate between that of man and the brute, is, in fact, no other than a real brute, wearing externally a human mask, but internally destitute of thought, and every other attribute which constitutes the human species : an animal in- ferior to many others in his relative faculties, and most essentially different from the human race in his nature, temperament, and also in the time necessary to his education, gestation, growth, and duration of life ; that is, in every real habitude which constitutes what we call Nature in a particular being. THE ORANG-OUTANG*,, OR THE PONGO, AND THE JOCKO. WE shall present the Orang-outang and the Jocko together, because they, possibly, be- long to the same species. Of all the ape and monkey kinds, these bear the greatest resem- blance to the human form, and consequently, those * Orang-outang is the name this animal bears in the East- Indies ; pongo, its denomination at Lowando, a province of Congo ; and Kukurlac^o in some parts of the East-Indies. 150 buffon's those which are most worthy particular notice. We have seen the small orang-outang, or jocko (Jig. 195.) alive, and have preserved its skin ; but we can only speak of the pongo, or great orang-outang, from the accounts given us by travellers. If their relations might be depend- ed on, if they were not often obscure, faulty, and exaggerated, we should not doubt of its being a different species from the jocko, a spe- cies more perfect, and approaching still near- er to the human race. Bontius, who was head physician at Batavia, and who has left some excellent observations on the Natural History of that part of India, expressly says, that he saw with admiration, some individuals of thii species walking erect on two feet, and among others a female (of which he gives a figure) who seemed to have an idea of modesty, cover- ing herself with her hand on the appearance of men with whom she was not acquainted ; who sighed, cried, and did a number of other ac- tions, so like the human race, that she wanted nothing of humanity but the gift of speech. Linnaeus,upon the authority of Kjoep and other travellers, says, that even this faculty is not wanting in the orang-outang,but that he thinks, speaks, and expresses his meaning in a whist- ling tonc\ He calls him the Nocturnal Man, and Sin, ill Gibbon NATURAL HISTORY. 151 and at the same time gives such a description of him, that it is impossible to decide whether he is a brute or human being. We must, how- ever, remark, that, according to Linnaeus, this being, whatever he may be, is not above half the height of a man ; and as Bontius makes no mention of the size of his orang-outang, ^e should imagine them to be the same : but, then, this animal of Linnaeus and Bontius would not be the true orang-outang, which is of the size of a very tall man : neither can he be what we call the Jockos which I have seen alive ; for although he was of the .same size as that de- nci'u >ed by Linnaeus, yzt he differed in every er character. I can afHrm, from having re- peatedly seen him, that lie neither spake nor expressed himself by a whistling noise, and that lie did not perform a single thing which a well instructed dog could not perform: He differed in almost every respect from the de- scription which Linnaeus gives of the orang- outang, and agreed much better with that of the sati/rus of the same author. I therefore greatly doubt the truth of the description of this nocturnal man; I even doubt his existence ; and it was probably a white negro, a Chacre- las, whom those travellers, which Linnaeus has quoted, have but superficially seen, and as blindly described, for the Chacrelas. like the nocturnal 152 BtJFFON's nocturnal man of this author, has while, wool- ly, frizly hair, red eyes, a weak sight, &c. But (hen they are men , and do not whistle ; nor are they pigmies of only SO inches in height ; they think, speak and act, like other men, and their stature is exactly the same. Discarding,therefore, this ill-described being, and supposing a little exaggeration in Bontius's relation concerning the modesty of his female orang-outang, there only remains a brute ani- mal, namely, an Ape, of which we have in- formation from authors of more credit; and which is described with the greatest exactness by Edward Tyson, a celebrated English ana- tomist. This learned gentleman says, that there are two species of this ape, and that the one he gives a description of is not so large as the other called barris, or baris, by travellers, and drill by the English. This drill is, in fact, the large orang-outang of the East-In- dies, or the pongo of Guinea ; and the pigmy described by Tyson is the jocko, which we have seen alive. The philosopher Gassendi having advanced, on the authority of a tra- veller, named St. Amand, that in the island of Java there was a creature which formed the shade between man and the ape, the fact was positively denied. To prove it, Peiresse produced a letter from M. Noel, a physician. NATURAL HISTORY. 153 physician, who lived in Africa, in which it is asserted, that there is found in Guinea a large ape, called barris, which walks erect on its two feet, has an appearance of more gravity and sagacity than any of the other species, and has a very strong inclination for women. Dar- cos, Nieremberg, and Dapper, speak nearly the same of the barris. Battel calls it pongo, and assures us, " that, excepting his size, he is exactly like a man in all his proportions; but he is as tall as a giant ; his face is like that of a man, his eyes deep sunk in the head, and the hair on his brows extremely long; his visage is without hair, as are also his ears and hands; his body is lightly covered with hair. He scarcely differs from man, except not having any catf to his legs ; yet he always walks on his hind legs : he sleeps under trees, and builds himself a shelter against the sun and the rains. lie lives only upon nuts and fruits, and is no way carnivorous : he cannot speak, and has no more understanding than any other animal of the brute creation. When the people of the country travel in the woods they make fires by which thy steep in the night, and being gone, in the morning this ani- mal comes and sits by it until it goes out, but he has not skill enough to keep the flame alive v«l. ix. X I).T 154 buffon's by feeding it with fuel. They go together in companies, and if they happen to meet with one of the human species, remote from succour, they shew him no mercy. They even attack the elephants, whom they beat with their clubs, and oblige them to leave that part of the forest which they claim as their own. These creatures are never taken alive, for they arc so strong that ten men would not be able to hold one of them. They sometimes destroy the young ones; the mother carries them, she herself being in an erect posture, and th cy- cling to her body with their hands and knees. There are two kinds of this animal, both very much resembling the human race, the one the natives call pongo, is taller and thicker than a man ; and the other ewgeco, or jocko, whose size is much smaller." It is from this passage that I derived the names pongo and jocko. Battel farther observes, that when one of these animals dies the rest cover his body with leaves and branches of trees. Purchas adds, in a note, that in the conver- sations he had with Battel he learned that a negro boy was taken from him by a pongo, and carried into the woods, where he continued a whole year, and that on his return he said, that they never attempted to do him any injury; that they NATURAL HISTORY. 15j they were generally about the height of the human race, but much larger, and nearly dou- ble the bulk of a man. Jobson asserts to have seen, in places frequented by these animals, a sort of habitation composed of interwoven branches, which might serve them at least as a shelter from the heat of the sun. " The apes of Guinea, says Bosnian, which are called smitten by the Flemings, are of a yellow colour, and grow to a very large size. I have seen some above five feet high. These apes are of a very disagreeable appearance, as well as those of another species, which resemble them in every particular except in size, not being one fourth part so big. They arc very easily taught to do almost whatever their masters please." Schouten says, " That the animals which the Indians call orang-outangsare nearly of the same height and figure as man, but that their back and loins are covered with hair, al- though they have none on the fore part of their bodies; that the females have two large breasts, that their face is coarse, their nose flat, and their ears like those of men ; that they are robust, active, bold, and dfeft rid them- selves against armed men ; that they arc pas- sionately fond of women, who cannot pass through the wood? which they inhabit, without these 156 buffon's these animals immediately attacking and ni> vishing them." Dampier, Froger, and other travellers, assert, that young girls, about eight or ten years old, are taken away by these ani- mals, and carried to the tops of high trees, and that it is a very great difficulty to rescue them. To all these testimonies we may add that of M. de la Brosse, mentioned in his voyage to Angola, in 1738, wherein he says that the orang-outangs (which he calls quimpezts) often attempt to surprise the Negresses, whom, when they succeed, they detain for the purpose of enjoying, feeding them very plentifully all the time. I knew (says he) a Negress at Loango who had lived among these animals for three years. They grow from six to seven feet high, and are of great strength. They build sheds, and make use of clubs for their defence. They have flat fapes, broad flat noses, ears without a tip, and their skins are fairer than that of a mulatto, but they are covered on many parls of their bodies with long and taw- ny-coloured b'iir: their bellies are extremely tense, their heels flat, rising behind about half an inch : they sometimes walk upright, and sometimes upon all fours. We purchased two of these animals, a male of about fourteen months old, and a female about twelve, &c" Thus NATURAL HISTORY. 157 Tims we have given the most precise and perfect account we could collect of the great orang-outang, or pongo; and as magnitude is the only striking character in which it differs from the jocko,. I must persist in ray belief that they are of the same species; for two things are at least possible. 1 . That (he jocko may be a constant variety ; that is, a much smaller race than that of the pongo ; in fact, they are both of the same climate, they live in the same manner, and consequently ought to resemble each other perfectly , since they equally receive, and are subject to the same influences of earth and sky. Have we not an example of a like variety in the human species ? The Laplander and Finlander,thougb living under the same climate, yet differ almost as much in size, and much more in other attributes, as the jocko differs from the great orang-outang. 2. The jocko, or small orang-outang, which we have seen alive, as well as those of Tulpius, Tyson, and others which have been transported into Europe, were, perhaps, only young animals which had not attained the whole of their growth. That which I saw was about two feet and a half high, and the Sieur Nonfouix, to whom it belonged, assured mc that it was not above two years old ; there- fore, 158 buffon's fore, it possibly might have attained to the height of five fed if it had lived, supposing* its' growlh to be proportionate to that of the hu- man species. The orang-outang described by Tyson, was still younger, as it was not above two feet high, and its teeth were not entirely formed. Those of Tul pi us and Edwards were nearly of the same size as that which I saw, therefore it is very probable that these animals, had they been at liberty in their own climate, would have acquired the same height and di- mensions which travellers ascribe to the great orang-outang. From these circumstances we shall consider these two animals as belonging io one species, till a more precise knowledge efthem shall be obtained. The orang-outang which I saw walked always upright, even when carrying heavy burthens. His air was melancholy, his de- portment grave, his movements regular, his disposition gentle, and very different from that of other apes. Unlike the baboon, or the monkey, whose motions are violent, and appe- tite* (capricious, who are fond of mischief, and only obedient through fear, a look kept him in awe. It may be urged that he had the benefit of instruction ; but equally so had ihu^e with whom I mean to compare him, and yft NATURAL HISTORY. 159 jret neither the baboon, nor other apes, could be brought to obey without blows, while a word was enough for him. I have seen this animal give his hand to shew the company to the door that came to see him, and walk about as gravely with them, as if he formed one of the company. I have seen him sit down at table, unfold his napkin, wipe his lips, make use of a spoon or a fork to carry the victuals to his mouth, pour out its drink into a glass, and touch glasses with the person who drank with him ; when invited to take tea, he would brins: a cup and saucer, lay (hem on the tnble, put in sugar, pour out the tea, and leave it to cool before he drank it. Ill this I have seen hira perform without any other instigation than the pignsj orthe commands of his master, and oflea of his own accord. He was gentle and in- offensive; lie even approached strangers with respect, and appeared rather to solicit caresses than inclined to offer injuries. He was singu- larly fond of sweatmeats, which every body was ready to give him ; and as he bad a do* fluxion upon the breast, together with a cough, so much sugar contributed, no doubt, to shorten his life. He continued at Paris one summer, and died in London the following winter. He Would eat almost every thing that wasoifered, but 160 BUFFOxVs but preferred dry and ripe frui(s to all other aliments. Pie would drink wine, but in small quantities, and willingly left it for milk, tea, or any other sweet, or mild liquor. Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, bad one of these ani* mals presented to him, the figure and descrip- tion of which is given by Tujpius, and who re- lates nearly the same circumstances respecting him as we have done. But if we would know what peculiar instincts belong to this animal, and distinguish him from the improvements he had received from his master; we must compare those facts which we have witnessed, with the relations which travellers have given who have seen this animal in a state of nature, and in captivity. M. de la Brossc, who bought two orang-outangs from a negro, and whicli AYere but a year old, does not mention their having been educated ; on the contrary, he asserts, that they performed many of the above actions by natural instinct. u These animals, says he, sat at table like men, they eat every «ort of food without distinction, made use of a knife, a fork, or a spoon, to eat their meat and help th em selves ; they drank wide and other liquors. We carried them on ship board, and when they were at table, they made iigns to the cabin-boy expressive of their wants y NATURAL HISTORY. lol wonts ; and whenever the boy neglected or re- fused to give them what they wanted, they be- came in a passion, seized him by the arm, bit and then threw him down. The male was sea-sick, and required attendance like a hu- man creature: he was even twice bled in the right arm ; and every time afterwards, when he found himself indisposed, he held out his arm, as if conscious of having been relieved by that operation." Henry Grose relates, " that these animals are to be met with to thetorthof Coromandel; that Mr. Home, governor of Bom bay, had two of them, a male and a female, sent him from a merchant of the name of Vancajee, who lived upon the sea-coast in that country, by Captain Boag, the master of a trading vessel ; who, as well as some of his people, gave the following description of them : they were scarcely two feet high, but their form was en- tirely like the human : they walked erect upon their two feet* and were of a sallow white,with- out any hairs on any other part than those on which mankind generally have them. Many of their actions perfectly resembled the human, and their melancholy plainly evinced they felt the weight of their captivity. They made their bed very orderly in the cage in which yol. ix. Y they 162 buffon's they were sent on board the ship. When any person looked at them they hid those parts which modesty forbids to expose. Whether the sea air affected them, or they pined at their confinement, or whether the captain did not provide them proper food, the female first sickened and died, upon which the male shew* ed all the real signs of grief, and took the death of his companion so greatly to heart that he refused his food, and did not survive her more than two days." Such was captain Boag's account to Go- venor Home, on his return to Bombay ; and upon being asked what he had done with their bodies, said he had thrown them overboard, not at the time thinking of preserving them. The governor was so desirous of possessing such a curiosity, that he sent to Vancajee, re- questing him to procure more ; to which Van- cajee replied, he was afraid that would not be in his power, as they were caught upon the skirls of a forest about seventy leagues up the country, but they were so shy and cunning, that the inhabitants were scarcely able to take them, it not happening more than once in a century. Francis Pyrard relates, " that in the pro- vince of Sierra Leona in Africa, there is a spe- cies of apes called baris, who are strong and muscular , NATURAL HISTORY. 163 muscular, and so very industrious, that, if pro- perly fed and instructed, they serve as very useful domestics: they usually walk upright, will pound any thing in a mortar, fetch water from the river in little pitchers, which they carry on their heads ; but if (he pitchers be not taken off immediately on their return they let them fall (o the ground ; but when they see them broken, they begin to lament and cry for the loss." Father Jarrie says nearly the same, and almost in the same words. The testimony of Schoutten agrees with Pyrard's, on theedu- cation of these animals. "Whentakcn,he says, they are taught to walk erect on their hind feet, and to make use of those before as hands, for certain works, as rincing glasses, carrying the beer, and waiting at table, turning the spits, and other domestic business." " I saw at Java (says Guat)a very extraordinary female ape ; she was very large, and often walked erect on her hind feet, at which time she hid with her hands the parts which distinguish the sex. She had no hair on her face, except the eye-brows, and her face much resembled those grotesque ones of the Hottentot women which Ihave^een at the Cape. She made her bed every tUy with great neatness, slept with her fcead on a pillow, and covered herself with a quilt. 16 £ BUFFO N'S quilt; When she had the head -ache, she would bind it jound with a handkerchief, and it was amusing to see her thus dressed in bed. I could relate a number of other little circumstances which appeared extremely singular, but I own I did not admire them so much as most people ; becausel was aware of the design of bringing her to Europe to gratify, curiosity, and was therefore inclined to suspect that she had been taught a number of these tricks, which the populace looked upon as natural to the animal. She died in our vessel about the latitude of the Cape. This ape greatly resembled the human species in figure, &c." Gemelli Carreri speaks of one he saw which cried like a child, walked erect on its hind- feet, and carried a mat under its arm, on which it laid down to sleep. " These apes (he adds) seem in some respects to be more sagacious than men ; for when they no longer find fruits on the mountains, they descend to the sea- shore, where they catch and feed on crabs, oysters, and other shell-fish There is a. spe- cies of oyster, called taclovo, which weighs several pounds, and often lies upon the shores with its shell somewhat open ; but this animal being sufficiently sagacious to suspect they may close upon him, if he uses his paws, first puts a stone NATURAL HISTORY. 1G5 a stone between the shells, and then cats, the oyster at his pleasure." " On the coasts of the river Gambia (says Froger) there are apes larger and more mis- chievous than in any other part of Africa: the negroes are afraid of them, and they cannot travel alone where they frequent, without run- ning a risk of being attacked by these animals, who make use of huge clubs. The Portu- guese say that they frequently take away young girls of seven or eight years of age, and carry them up to the highest trees. Most of *he negroes regard these animals as foreigneri who are come to establish themselves in their country, and that their not speaking arises from a fear of being obliged to work." Ano- ther traveller remarks, that at Macacar there are apes which walk upon their hind feet like the human species, that they go in numbers, and that an encounter with them often proves fatal. Thus we have nearly given every parti- cular circumstance concerning this animal which has been related by travellers who may be the most depended upon. I have given their accounts entire, because every passage is important in the history of a brute which lias so grezt a resemblance to man ; and in order ]C6 button's order to determine its nature with the greater certainty, we shall now mention those differ- enccr* and conformities which divide him from or give him an approximation to the human species. The first external difference is the flatness of the nose, the shortness of the fore- head, and the defect of prominence in thechin. The ears are proportionally too large, the eyes too close to each other, and the interval be- tween the nose and the mouth too great : these are the only differences between the face of the orang-outangs and that of man. Wiih regard to the body and limbs, the thighs are propor- tionally too short, the arms too long ; the fingers too small, the palms of the hands too narrow, and the feet rather resemble the hands than the human feci. The parts of genera- tion differ only from those of man, by their having no fraenum to the prepuce ; but in the females the organs externally are nearly like those qf women. Internally this animal differs from man in the number of its ribs; having thirteen, where- as man has only twelve. The vertebras of the neck are also shorter, the bones of the pelvis narrower, the haunches more flat, and the or- bits of the eyes sunk deeper. There is no -is to the first vertebra? of the necju NATURAL HISTORY. }QJ neck ; the kidnies are rounder than in (he hu- man species, and the ureters have a different figure, as well as the bladder and gall-blad- der; which are much longer and narrower. In almost every other part, as well externally as internally, there is so perfect a resemblance to those of the human species, that we can- not compare them without expressing our wonder and admiration, that from such a si- milar conformation and organization the same effects are not produced. For example, the tongue, and all the organs of the voice, are exactly the same as in man, and yet this ani- mal does not speak; the brain is absolutely of the same form and proportion, and yet it does not think. Can there be a more convin- cing proof, that matter alone, however per- fectly organized, cannot produce either speech or thought, unless animated by a superior principle ? or, in other words, by a soul to direct its operations? Man, and the orang- outang, are the only animals which have calfs to their legs, and their posteriors formed for walking erect. They likewise are the only ones which have a broad chest, flat shoulders, and the vertebra conformable to each other; and the only animals whose brain, heart lungs, liver, spleen, stomach, and intestines, are perfectly alike, and who have a vermicu- lar 168 buffon's lar appendix. In short, the orang-outang has a greater resemblance to man than even to baboons or monkeys, not only by all the parts which I have indicated, but also by the largeness of the visage, the form of the cra- nium, the jaws, teeth, and other b. ne§ of the head and face; by the thickness of the fin- gers and thumb ; by ihe shape of the nails; by the articulations of the joints, sternum, &c. So that since we find, by comparing this animal with those which resemble it most, such as the magot, baboon, or monkey, it has a greater conformity with the human than the animal species, which have all been mentioned under the general name of apes, the Indians areexcusable for having associated it with man by the name of orang-outa?;g, or the wild man of (lie icoods. As some of the facts we have mentioned may appear suspicious to those who have not seen this animal, we shall support them by the authority of the two celebrated anatomists Tyson* and Cowper, who dissected it * The orang-outang bears a greater resemblance to man than to the apes or monkeys; because, l.The hairs on his shoulders are directed downwards, and those on the arm up- wards. 2. His face is broador and flatter than that of the apes. 3. The form of his ears resembles that of man, ex- cepting the cartilaginous, part being thin, like the apes. 4. His fingers are much thicker in proportion than the apes. 5. He is, in every particular, formed for walking erect, which NATURAL HISTORY. 169 it with a most scrupulous nicely, and have given the results of the comparisons they made of all its parts with the human species. I shall only observe, that the English are not confined, like the French, to one single word to denote animals of this kind : they have, like the Greeks, two different denominations, one for which apes are not. 6. His posteriors are thicker than those of apes. 7. He has calfs to his legs. 8. His breast and shoulders are broader than those of any ape. 9. His heels are longer. 10. He has a cellular membrane, like man , under the skin. 11. His peritonaeum is entire. 12. His intestines are longer than those of apes. 13. The intestinal canal is of different diameters, as in man, and not nearly equal, as in apes. 14. His caecum has a vermicular ap- pendix, which is not the case in any other ape, nor is the neck of the colon so long as in the latter. 15. The insertions of the biliary and pancreatic ducts have but one common orifice in the orang-outang as well as in man, but in all apes and monkeys they are two inches asunder. 16. The colon is longer than that of the apes. 17. The liver is not divided into lobes as in the apes, but entire, like that of man. 18 The biliary vessels are also the same; as are, 19. The spleen. 20. The pancreas; and 21. The number of lobes in the lungs. 22. The pericardium is attached to the diaphragm, as in man. 23. The cone of the heart is more blunt than in apes. 24. He has no pouches at the bottom of the cheeks, as other apes have. 25. His brain is larger than that of apes, and formed exactly like the human brain 26. The cranium is rounder, and double the size of that of monkeys. 27. All the sutures of the cranium are similar to those of man, which is not the case in other apes or mon- keys. 28. He has the es cribriform^ and the crista galli, which vol. ix. Z the 170 buffon's for those without tails, which they call apesf and the other for those with tails, which they term monkeys. Those which Tyson speaks of by the word apes must be the same animals as we have called pithecos, or pigmy, and the eynocephalus, or Barbary ape. I must also re- mark, that this author gives some characters of resemblance the monkeys have not. 29. He has the sella equina exactly the same as in man, while the apes and monkeys have it more prominent. 30. They have the processus pteregoides like man, while the others have net. 31. The temporal bones, and the ossa bregmatis are the same as in man, but i» apes and monkeys these bones are of a different form. 32. The latter have the es zygomatics large, whereas it is small in this animal. 33. The teeth, particularly the grinders, are more like man's than those of the ape or monkey,as also are, 34. The transverse apophyses of the vertebra of the neck, and the sixth and seventh vertebra. 35. The vertebrae of the neck are not perforated as in apes, but entire as in man; 36. The vertebrae of the back and their apophyses, are the tame as in man ; and in the lower vertebrae, there are only two inferior apophyses, but in the apes there are four. 37. A» in man there are only five lumber vertebrae, but in monkeys there are six or seven. 38. The spinal apophyses of the lum- ber vertebrae are straight as in man. 39. The os sacrum is composed of five vertebrae, as in man, but in apes or mon- teeys of only three. 40. As in man, the coccix is composed of four bones, and not perforated, whereas in apes, it is composed of a greater number of bones, all of which are per- forated. 41. In the orang-outang, there are only seven true ribs, and the extremities of the false ribs are atf carti* iagtnous and articulated with the vertebrae; but in apes and monkeys, there are eight true ribs, and the extremities of th« fake NATURAL HISTORY. 171 resemblance and difference which have not a sufficient foundation. I have therefore thought it necessary to make some observations on those particulars, as we cannot too minutely examine a creature, which, though it has the form of a man, nevertheless belongs to the brute species. 1. Tyson false ribs are osseous, and their articulations are placed in the intestines between the vertebrae. 42. His iternum is broad like that of man, but which is narrow in monkeys. 43. The bones of the four fingers are thicker than those of apes. 44. The thigh bone is like that of man. 45. The ro- tula is round, long, and single, but double in the apes. 46. The heel tarsus and metatarsus are like those of man. 47" The middle toe is not so long as that of the" apes. 48. The tbliquus inferior capitis, fyriformis, and biceps femoris muscles, are like those of man, but which are different in the apes ot monkeys. The orang-outang differs from the human species mote than from apes and monkeys : l.The thumb is proportion- ally smaller than that of man, but larger than that of the apes. 2. The palm of the hand is logger and narrower. 3. The toes approach those of the ape, by their length. 4. As he does by having the large toe of the foot placed at an inch distance from the next one, and which makes him ra- ther be considered as a four-handed animal than a quadru- ped. 5. His thighs are shorter than those of man ; and 6. His arms are longer. 7. The testicles are not pendulous. 8. The epiloon is larger. 9. The gall-bladder is longer. 10. The kidneys are rounder, and the ureters are also different from man. 11. The bladder is longer. 12. He has no ftxnutn to the prepuce. 13. The bone in the orbit of the eye is 6unk deeper. 14. He has not the two cavities below 172 bufion's J. Tyson gives, as a particular character of man and the orang-outang, the having the hair, on their shoulders inclined downward, and that on the arms upwards. It is true that most qua- drupeds have their hair directed downwards, or backwards, but this is not without some exceptions. The sloth and the smallest species of ant-eater have the hnir on their anterior pans inclined backward, and that on the crup- per and loins directed forwards ; therefore th is character the tella turlca. 15. The mastoid and styloid processes are pxtremely small. 16. The bones of the nose are flat. 17. The vertebras of the neck are short, flat before, and their spinal apophyses are not forked. 18. He has no spinal apophyses in the first vertebrae of the neck. 19. He has thirteen ribs on each side. 20. The e>sa ilia are longer, narrower, and less con- cave than in man. 21. He also wants the following muscles* which are found in man : the occipitales,frontales, dililatorics alarum nasi sen elevotores labij superioris, interspinales colli glutai minimi extensor digitorum pedis brews et trans-versalis pedis. 22. The following muscles are sometimes found in man, but not in the orang-outang, the pyramidales, caro musculosa qua- drata, the long tendon and the fleshy body of the palmarisy the attolens, and retrohans oriculam. 23. The elevator muscles of the claricles of the orang-outang are like those of the ape, and different from man ; as are also 24. The muscles called, longus colli, pcctor.alis, latissimus dorsi, glut a us maximus et medius, psoas magnus et parvus, iliacus, internus, et gasteronamius internus. And 25. He differs from man in the figure of the deltoides, pronator, radi teres, et extensor pollhis ^ravV.— Tyson's Anat. of the Orang-Outang. NATURAL HISTORY. 17J Character carries no great weight in comparing the orang-outang with man. 2. The four first differences also in the pas- sage I have quoted are very slight, or ill- founded. The first is the difference of size, which character is very uncertain, especially as the author himself observes that his animal was very young. The second, third, and fourth, are drawn from the form of the nose, the quantify of hair, and other trivial circum- stances. It is the same with many others, which may be retrenched ; for example, the twenty-first character is drawn from the num- ber of the teeth. It is certain that both this ani- mal and man have the like number of teeth, and if the one in question had only twenty- eight, it ought to be attributed to its youth, for we know that the human race have not more in the early part of their days. 3. The seventh difference is likewise very equivocal; the scrotum ofchildrenJs in gene- ral very tight, and this animal being young ought not to have had them pendulous. 4. The forty-eighth character of resem- blance, and the twenty- first, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth marks of difference, only denote Uw presence pr shape of certain muscles, which as they vary 174 BUFFOX'S vary in most individuals of the human species, ought not to be considered as essential cha- racters. 5. Every difference and resemblance drawn from parts too minute, such as the apophyses of the vertebrae, or that are taken from the po* sition and magnitude of certain parts, should be considered only as accessory characters ; so that Tyson's whole anatomical table may be reduced to the essential differences and resem- blances which we have already mentioned. 6. I have thought it necessary to point out other more general characters of this animal, some of which have been omitted by Tyson, and others but badly indicated. First, The orang-outang is the only one of all the apes that has no pouches within his cheeks On each side of the jaw, in which to put the provisions before they swallow them, for the inside of his mouth is perfectly like that of man. Se- condly, The gibbon, the Barbary ape, and all the baboon and monkey kind, except the douc, have their posteriors flat, with cal- losities on them. The orang-outang is the only one which has those parts plump, and without callosities. The douc also has no callosities, but then his posteriors are flat and covered with hair, so that in this respect the douc NATURAL HISTORY. 175 doue forms the shade between the orang-ou- tang and the monkeys; as the gibbon and magot form the same knot with respect to the pouches on each side of the jaw. Thirdly, the orang-outang is the only animal who has the calfs of the legs, and fleshy posteriors. This character shews that it is formed much better than any other animal to walk upright ; but as its toes are very long, and its heels higher situated than in man, it runs with greater ease than it walks, and there would be occasion for artificial heels higher than those of our shoes to enable it to walk easily for a long time to- gether. Fourthly, though the orang-outang has thirteen ribs, and man only twelve, this difference does not approximate it nearer to the baboon or monkey than it removes it from man, because the number of ribs varies in most of those species, some of them having twelve, others eleven, ten, and so on. So that the only differences between the body of this ani- mal and that of man are reduced to two, viz. the figure of the bones of the pelvis, and the formation of the feet ; these, therefore, are the only considerable parts by which the orang- outang bears a greater resemblance to the other apes than it does to the human species. from 175 buffoVs From this examination, which I have made with all the exactness I am capable of, we may form a tolerably correct judgment of this ani- mal. If there were a step by which we could descend from human nature to that of the brutes, and if tire essence of this nature con- sisted entirely in the form of the body, and de- pended on its organization, the orang-outang would approach nearer to man than to any other animal. Seated in the second rank of beings, if it could not command i.i the fir^t, it would at least make others feel its superiority* If the principle of imitation, by which he seems so closely to copy the actions of man, were a result of thought or reason, this ape would be at a still greater distance fro n the brute spe- cies, and nearer the human ; but, as we have observed, the interval which separates them is not trifling, and the resemblance in form, conformity of organization, and motions of imitation, which seem to result from those si- militudes, neither bring it nearer the nature of man, nor raise it above that of the brutes. Distinctive Charai'ers of this Species. The orang-outang has no pouches on the sides of the jaws, no tail, nor any callosities or* NATURAL HISTORY. 177 on the posteriors, which last are plump and fleshy : all his teeth are similar to those of man : his face is flat, naked, and of a swarthy colour; his hands, feet, ears, breast, and belly, are also naked : the hair on the head descends on the sides of the temples like tresses ; on his back and loins there is but a very small quantity of hair* : he is about five or six feet high, and always walks erect on his two hind feet. We have not been able to verify whether the fe- males are subject to periodical courses like women : analogy will scarcely suffer a doubt to arise to the contrary. THE PITHECOS, OR PIGMY. ARISTOTLE says, " there are animals whose nature are ambiguous, and partake, in some measure, of the human and quadruped species ; such as the pithecos, the kebes, and the cynocephali. The kebe is a pithecos with vol. ix. A a a tail; * According to Pennant this hair is of a reddish colou^ and shaggy. 178 ruffon's a (ail; the cynocepltalus is perfectly like tki pithecos, but larger, stronger, and Ikis a m>ove- pointed muzzle* approaching very near that of a bull-dog, from which it derives its name : its- manners are also more ferocious, and its- teeth stronger than those of the pithecos-, and more resemble those of a dog." It is clear, from this passage, that neither the pithecos nor ey- noeephalus, mentioned by Aristotle, have any tail ; for he says., that the pithecos with a tail, is called kebe ; and that the cynoccphalus resembles the pithecos in every particular, ex- cept the muzzle and teeth. Aristotle, there- fore, speaks of two apes without tails, the pithecos and the cynocephalus ; and of others with tails, which he calls kebes. Now, to compare what we at present know with what was known by Aristotle, we shall observe, that we have seen three species of apes with- out tails, namely, the orang-outang, the gib- bon, and the magot, not one of which is the pithecos ; for the two ftrst were certainly un- known to Aristotle, being only found in the to ut Item parts of Africa and Indb, which were not discovered (ill after his time: besides., they have very different characters from those lie ascribes to the pithecos. But the third species, which we call the magot, or Cairbary NATURAL HISTORY. 179 Barbary ape, is Hie cynoccphalus rf Aristotle^ for it possesses ail its characters ; it lias no tail, its nuiiszte is like that of a bull-clog, and it* ^canine teeth are large and long. Tliis animal is also found in Asia Minor, and in other pro- vinces of the East, and with which (lie Greeks were well acquainted. The pithecos belongs to Uk same country, but we have not seen it, and know it only from the relations of travel- lers, and, although during twent}^ years, ki which we have made the research of these ani- mals our study, this species has not fallen un- derour inspection, yet we do not doubt but that, it as really exists astlie cynocephalus. Gesner and Johnston have given figures of this pithe- cos. M. Brissoa mentions his having seen it, and he distinguishes it from the cy nocephalu>, which he also saw, and confirms Aristotle's re- mark that these two animals perfectly resemble each other in every respect, excepting the face, which is shorter in the cynocephalus than in the pithecos. We have already ob- served, that the orang-outang, the pithecos, the gibbon, and the magot, arc the only ani- mals to which we can apply (he generic name of ape, being the only animals which have no tail, and rather choose to walk on two legs than four. The orang-outang, and the gibbon, are ISO buffon's are very different from the pithecos and the magot. But, as the two latter perfectly re- semble each other, except in the length of the muzzle, and size of the canine teeth, they have been often taken for each other. They have always been mentioned by the common name of ape, even in languages which have one name for apes without tails, and another for apes which have tails. They are both called by the name of off in German, and ape in English ; and it is only among the Greeks that we find that each of these animals has a proper name. The word cynocephalus is ra- ther an adjective than a proper substantive, for which reason we have not adopted it. It appears from the testimonies of the an- cients, that the pithecos, or pigmy, was the most gentle and docile of all the ape species that were known to them ; and that it was com- mon ia Asia, as well as in Lybia, and in the other provinces of Africa, frequented by the Greek and Roman travellers. Therefore I pre- sume that we must refer the following passages of Leo Africanus, and Marraol to the pigmy. They say, that the apes with long tails, which are seen in Mauritania, and are called by the Africans mones, come from the negro country; but that ihose without tails are found in great numbers, NATURAL HISTORY. 181 numbers, and are natives of the mountains of Mauritania, Bugie, and Constantine. u These animals, says Marmol, have feet and hands like a man, and, if I may be allowed the ex- pression^ human face; they have an appearance of much vivacity, and seem very malicious. They live upon corn, herbs, aud all sorts of fruits, to obtain which they sally forth in large troops, to plunder the gardens or fields ; but before they venture out on these expeditions one of the company ascends an eminence, and surveys the country round. If there be no per- son near, he makes a signal by a cry, for his companions to proceed, remaining himself, however, at his station : but as soon as he perceives any one coming, he sets up a loud cry, and the whole company scamper off with the utmost precipitation, and jumping from tree to tree, retreat to the mountains. It is a great curiosity to see these animals retreat ; for the females carry four or five young ones upon their backs, and with this heavy load, Jeap with great agility from branch to branch; yet great numbers of them are taken, by dif- ferent snares, notwithstanding all their cun- ning. When they are angry, they bite furiously, but by coaxing, they are easily tamed . They do great damage to the gardens #nd fields, because they pluck, pull down, and 182 buffon's and tear up, every thing that comes in their way, whether ripe or not, and often destroy more than they can eat or carry away. Those that are tamed, perform things almost incre- dible, and imitate almost every human action!'* Kolbe relates nearly the same facts with re- spect to the apes of the Cape of Good Hope : but the description and figure he gives of them, plainly prove they are baboons, having a short tail, a long muzzle, sharp nails, &c. they are also much larger and stronger than the apes of Mauritania. We may therefore presume, that Kolbe only copied this passage from Marmol, and applied the natural habitudes of the Mau- ritania pigmies to the baboons of the Cape of Good Hope. The pithecos, the magot, and the baboon, were known to the ancients : these animals are found in Asia Minor, Arabia, Upper Egypt and in all the northern parts of Africa. This passage of Marmol may, therefore, be applied to all the three ; but it is clear it does not agree with the baboon, for it says these apes have no tails ; and what makes me of opinion that it is not a magot, but a pithecos, is, that the former is noteasily tamed, that it common- ly produces only two young ones, and notfour or five, like that of which Marmol speaks ; and NATURAL HISTORY. 1S3 and (he latter, being also less, must produce a greater number at a time. Besides the pithe- cos, or pigmy, is more gentle and docile than the magot, or Barbary ape, which is scarcely ever thoroughly tamed. From these reasons I am convinced, that we must not apply this passage in the above author to the magot, but to the pithecos ; and the same remark may be made to a passage of Rubruquis, who, in his discourse of the apes of Cathay, says,44 that they nearly resemble the human form in every particular ; that their height is not above a foot and a half, and their body covered all over with hair ; that they live in holes ; that the na- tives take them, by putting strong and inebri- ating liquors in the places they inhabit; that a number of them come together to drink li- quors, at the same tinae making a cry which, sounds like chmchin, whence they have obtain- ed tlie appellation of chinchins ; and that hav- ing intoxicated themselves they fall asleep, whenthehunterseasilvsurpriseand carry them away." These characters agree with the pi- thecos, and not at all with the Barbary ape. We have seen one of the latter alive, but ne- ver heard it pronounce the word chinchin. Besides it was above a foot and a half in height, and had a less resemblance to the human form 184 buffon's form than what (his author asserts. We hav£ the same reasons for applying ProsperAlpir.us's figure and description to the pithecos, rather than to themagot. He asserts, that the small ape without a tail, which he saw in Egyptj was sooner and more easily tamed, and more sagacious, lively, and diverting, than those of any other kind. This plainly distinguishes it from the magot, which is a filthy, sullen, vici- ous, untraceable animal, and is never fully tam- ed, so that the characters given by Prosper Alpinus to his ape without a tail, do not agree in any respect with the Barbary ape, and can belong to no other animal than the pithecos. Distinctive Characters of this Species.* The pithecos, or pigmy, has no tail; his canine teeth are not proportionably larger than those of man ; his face is flat, as are likewise hisnails,which are rounded atthe top like those of the human species ; he walks erect, is about a foot and a half high, and of a gentle and trac- table disposition. The antients assert that the female is subject to a periodical emanation, and analogy leaves us no reason to doubt the fact. THE * This ape is about the size of a cat, of an olive brown above, and yellowish beneath. Pennant. NATURAL HISTORY. 185 TILE GIBBON,* OR LONG-ARMED APE. THE Gibbon ( fig. 196) always keeps itself erect, even when it walks on all four feet, its arms being as long as both its body and legs. We have seen one of these animals alive; it was but young, and. not more than three feet high ; we may therefore presume, that it had not attained its full size, and that when in a free state, it may grow to four feet. It has no appearance of any tail, and the character which evidently distinguishes it from all other apes, is the extraordinary length of its arms. It * Gibbon is the name by which Mr. Dupleii sent us this animal from the East Indies. I thought at first that this was an Indian word, but in looking over the nomenclature of the monkey tribe, I found in a no.e of Dalechamp's upoa Pliny, that Strabo has described the cephus by the word Kcipon, from which, probably, Guibon, Gibbon, is derived. The passage of Pliny, with Dalechamp's note, is as follows: " Pompeii magni, primum ludi ostenderunt ex Ethiopia, quas vocant cephos* quadem pedes posteriores pedibus hu- manis & cruribus, priores manibus fucre similes; hoc ani- mal postea Roma non vidit." * Cephos, Strabo, lib xv. Keipon vocat eiseque tradit fae'e satyro similem. Dal. Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. viii. cap. 19. Nota. The cebus ofth: Greeks, the cephos of Pliny, ivh ch is pro;:c::r:ccd kebus and kephus, might -very possibly t.:ie its origin from koph, or kophin, ivhich is the name of an ape in the Hebrew and Chal- dean. VOL. IX. B l> 186 BUFFO NfS It had a circle of white hair all round the face, ■which gave it a very remarkable appearance : its ejTes are large but sunk deep in the head ; its face is fiat nearly resembling that of a man, and of a tawny colour, and its ears, though well proportioned, are naked. This animal, next to the orang-outang and the pifhecos, would approach the nearest to the human form, were it not deformed by the excessive length of its arms: for man in a state of nature would have a strange appearance; his hair and beard, if they were neglected, would en- circle his visage not unlike that which sur- rounds the face of the gibbon. This .ape appeared to be of a gentle and tractable disposition ; its motions were neither too rash, nor too precipitate. It was fed on bread, fruit, almonds, &c. and calmly received the food that was presented. It was very averse to cold and wet, and did not live long after being brought into a foreign climate. It is a native of the East Indies, and particularly along the coasts of Coromandel, Malacca, and the islands of Molucca.* This animal is not to * P. le Cojnte says, that he saw at the Molucca islands, a species of ape, walking naturally on his two feet, and using his arim like a man. The face nearly resemhied that of a Hottentot, but the body was covered all over with a sort of grey wool. It was exactly like a child, and expressed per- fectly NATCRAL HISTORY. 187 to be met with in the less southern provinces, and there is every reason to conclude that the ape found in the kingdom of Ganaura, on the frontiers of China, ought to be referred to the gibbon, although it is called by some travellers fefe. This species varies both in size and colour, for there are two in the royal cabinet, one of which, although adult, is much smaller than the other, and is brown on those parts of the body where the other is black ; but as they perfectly resemble each other in every other respect, we have not the least doubt that they both belong to the same species. Distinctive Characters of this Species, The gibbon has no tail ; there are small callosities on his posteriors ; his face is fiat, brown, and surrounded with a circle of white hairs; his canine teeth are larger in propor- tion than those of man ; his ears are naked ; black, and round ; his hair is black, brown, or sometimes grey with age ; his arms excessively long; he walks erect, and is about two feet and a half, or three feet high. The female is subject to a periodical emanation. THE fectly its wants and its desires. The^e apes are of a very- mild disposition, and to shew their affection to any person whom they know, they embrace them and kiss them with singular transport. One of them which P. ]e Comte saw was at least four feet high, and very agile. 188 buffon's BiiauK'jjajaLKie'tfu— i*w 'jHnnm THE MAGOT, OR BARBARY APE. THIS animal, of all apes which have no tail, is that which can best bear with the tem- pera hire of our climate. We kept one for many years. In the summer it remained in the open air with pleasure ; and in the winter might be kept in a room without any fire. It was filthy, and of a sullen disposition : it made use of grimace equally to shew its anger, or express its hunger : its motions were violent, its manners auk ward, and its physiognomy more ugly than ridiculous. Whenever offended it grinned and shewed its teeth. It put what- ever was given to it in ;o the pouches of the cheeks, and commonly eat every thing that was offered, except raw flesh, cheese, or any thing ihat had undergone a kind of fermenta- tion. When inclined to sleep it was fond of roosting on a wooden or iron bar. It was al- ways kept chained, for, notwithstanding its long domesticity, it was neither civilized nor attached to its keepers. Apparently it had been badly M.i.nl NATURAL HISTORY. ]89 badly educated, for I have seen others of (lie some species who were more sagacious, more obedient, more gaj , and so tractable as to be taught to dance, keeping time, and suffer themselves quietly to be clothed. This ape r%. 197) is two ivci and a half, or three feet high, in its erect posture; but the female is not so large as the male. It prefers to walk on all four raihcr than on two icct. When it sleeps ii is almost always sitting; supporting itself on two very prominent callo- sities on its posteriors; and the anus being placed higher, his body is more inclined when sitting than that of man. It differs from the pilhecos; first, in the form of its snout, which is thick and long, like that of a dog ; whereas, the pithecos has a flat visage. Secondly, in having long canine teeth. Thirdly, its nails are neither so fiat nor so round ; and, fourth- ly, because it is larger, and of a more sullen and untractable disposition. There are also varieties to be met with in this species. We have seen some of different sizes, with various coloured hair, and more or less busby. Even the five animals of which Prosper Alpinus has given us the figures and descriptions, under the name of cgnocephali, seem to be all mago(S; differing only in size, and 190 buffon's and some other characters too slight to form distinct species. The magot seems to be dis- persed over every warm climate in the Old Continent, and is found in Tartary, Arabia, Ethiopia, Malabar, Barbary, Mauritania, and as far as the Cape of Good Hope. It is, probably, this species of ape which Robert Lade speaks of in the following terms : " We travelled over a large mountain in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, where we diverted ourselves with hunting large apes, which are there in great plenty. I am not able to describe the various arts practised by these animals, while we were in pursuit of them: nor their swiftness, nor the impudence with which they returned. Sometimes they suffered us to approach so nigh, that I thought myself certain of securing them, but when I made the attempt, the one I meant to seize would make a sudden leap, spring above ten. paces from me, climb up a tree with the great- est agility, and then looking down npon us with perfect indifference, seem to derive plea- sure from our astonishment . There were some so exceedingly large, that, if our interpreter had not assured us that they were not of a ferocious nature, our number would not have appeared sufficient to have protected us from their at- tacks, STATUttAti IITSfORY. J91 tacks. As it would have been useless to kill them, we made no use of our guns ; but (lie captain, taking aim at a very largeonc, which was seated on a tree, after having tired us with a long pursuit, he had no sooner presented Ins piece but the animal, probably from the re- membrance of the execution of some of his companions by the like manner, was so greatly terrified, that it fell almost motionless at our feet, and we had not the least trouble in secur- ing it; however when it revived we had occa- sion for all our strength and address to keep it defending itself by biting those who came near, and we were at last under the necessity of covering its head with our handkerchiefs." DesLinctke Characters of this Species. The magot has no tail, though he has a small portion of skin, which has some appear- ance of one. He has pouches on the sides of his jaws, and thick callosities on his posteriors; canine teeth much longer in proportion than those of man ; and the bottom part of the face turned up like that of a bull-dog: his visage is hairy or rather covered with a down : he is of a greenish brown on bis body, and a pale yellow on the belly : he walks erect on his hind feci, but oftener on all four. He is about three 192 bufi'on's three feel and a half high, and {here seems to be some of hem s'ill larger. The females have a periodical emanation. THE PAPION*, OR-TUE BABOON, PROPERLY SO CALLED. IN man the physiognomy may deceive, and the figure of the body does not give an idea of the qualities of the mind ; but in the brute. creation we may always judge of their dis- positions by (heir looks, and form a just con- jecture of (heir internal qualities from their external form. For example, if we compare the ape and baboon we shall at once decide, that they greatly differ in their dispositions, and that the latter are infinitely more fierce, savage, and malicious, than the former. The orang-outang, which resembles man the most of any, approaches also nearest in intelligence, gentleness of manners, and pli- ancy of disposition. The magot, which is set further from the human figure, and ap- proaches that of the brutes in form of its face * This word is derived from Papro, which is the name of this animal in modern Latin, and which has been here adop- ted to distinguish him from the other baboons. NATURAL HISTORY. 193 face and canine teeth, is wild, impetuous, and disobedient ; but the baboon, which only re- sembles man in the hands, approaches still nearer, and is, in fact, of the savage tribe, hav- ing a tail, sharp nails, and a prominent muz- zle. The baboon which I saw (Jig- 198.) was not so extremely ugly, yet it excited horror. It seemed exceedingly savage and ferocious, con- tinually gnashing its teeth; fretting with rage and furiously restless. It was obliged to be confined in an iron cage, the bars of which it so forcibly moved with its hands,that the spec- tators were struck with apprehension. It was a squat animal, whose short limbs and com- pact body indicated vast strength and agility. The long hair with which it was covered seemed to add to its apparent volume ; however it is in reality so great, that it could easily overcome more than a single man, unless properly armed.* It constantlyappeared excit- ed by that passion which renders the mildest animals furious. It was insolently lascivious, and seemed fond of affecting to gratify its strong desires in public. In some measure we may say that Nature seems to have provided him vol. ix. C c for * This probably is of the same species as the animal called tre tre tre tre at Madagascar, which is (says Flaccourt) as large as a calf of two years old ; the head is round, with the face of a man; the fore and hind feet like an ape; the hair frizzly, the tail short, the ears like those of man . he resem- bles the tamach described by Ambroise Pare- ; it is a solitary animal, the natives dread it very much. 194 buffon's for this detestable and uncommon kind of im- pudence ; for in all other animals these parts are somewhat covered with a veil ; but in the baboon they are naked, and more conspicuous from the other parts of the body being covered with hair ; its posteriors are quite naked ; its genitals are pendulous,the anus uncovered, and the tail always elevated ; and instead of feeling any shame it seemed to make a parade of its na- kedness, presenting its posteriors oftener to the spectators than its head, particularly in the presence of women, before whom he displayed a matchless impudence, which could pro- ceed only from the most immoderate desires. The magot, and some others of the ape species, have the same strong inclinations, but as they are less in size, and not so petulant, they are more easily corrected, whereas the baboon is quite incorrigible, and totally untractable. But however violent the desires of these ani- mals may be,they do not breed in temperate cli- mates. The female brings forth usually but one young at a time, which she carries in her arms, and clinging as it were to her breast : she is also subject to periodical emanations. These baboons though mischievious and ferocious, are not carnivorous ; they principally feed upon fruits, roots, and corn. They generally as- semble together in companies, for the purpose of NATURAL HISTORY. 195 of sallying forth to commit their depredations on the neighbouring vineyards or orchards. Of these animals Kolbe speaks in the fol- lowing terms : — " The baboons are extremely fond of grapes, apples, and ripe fruit ; they assemble together in great numbers, and pro- ceed on their enterprize with previous delibe- ration. The dogs who are set to watch do not easily conquer them, unless rendered inac- tive by excess in eating, as they are extreme- ly agile, and make dexterous use of their^teeth and claws. On these occasions a part of them enter the inclosure, while some of the compa- ny stand on the wall as centinels ; the rest are stationed without, at a small distance from each other, and thus form a line, which extends from the inclosure to their place of rendezvous, which is generally in some craggy mountain. Everything being thus disposed the plunderers within the orchard begin their operations, and throw the fruit of all sorts to them without as fast as they can gather it ; or if the wall or hedge be very high, then to those that sit at the top, who, with great address, toss it to those below; and thus the fruit is pitched from one to another all along the line, till it is safely de- posited at their head-quarters. They are so dexterous and quick-sighted that they seldom suffer it to faljj and while the business is going forward ? 196 buffon's forward, which they conduct with great expe- dition, a most profound silence is observed among them. The centinels during the whole time continue upon the watch, and if they perceive any person approaching, they in- stantly set up a loud cry, and at this signal the whole company retreat with astonishing expedition. Distinctive Characters of this Species* The papion, or baboon, has a pouch on. each side of his checks ; he has callosities on his posteriors, which are naked, and of a red colour ; his tail is crooked, and about seven or eight inches long. The canine teeth are pro- portionally much thicker and longer than those of men. His muzzle is very thick and long, his ears naked, his body and limbs strong, thick, and short ; his genitals are naked, and of a flesh colour, his hair long, bushy, of a reddish brown,* and pretty uniform over the whole body. He walks oftener on four than on * The middle of the face and forehead naked, and of a bright vermilion colour, the tip of the nose of the same: the sides of the nose broadly ribbed, and of a fine violet blue* cheeks, throat, and goat-like beard, yellow ; hair on the fore- head very long, turned back, and black ; head, arms, and legs covered with short hair, yellow and black intermixed* the breast with long whitish yellow hairs ; the shoulders with long brown hair This description is from a stuffed speci- men in Sir Ashton Lever's Museum.— Pennant t Synopsis, TIG 199 Mandril/ OuaJiderou NATURAL HISTORY. 197 on two feet. When erect, he is from three to four feet high. There seem to be different sizes of this species ; but after (he most careful comparison, we could perceive no other dif- ferences between them than the size, which does not proceed from their age; for the small baboon seemed to be an adult as well as th« large. THE MANDRILL. THIS baboon (fig. 199.) is an ugly dis- gusting animal; his nose, or rather two nos- trils, are flat, from which constantly issues a thick matter, which he takes care at intervals to lick oil with his tongue and swallow. Hi* head is large, and muzzle very long. He ia of a squat form, and his posteriors are of a blood red, his anus is placed almost as high as his loins, his face is of a bluish colour, and strongly seamed with wrinkles, which still increases his frightful and loathsome appear- ance. He is larger than the baboon, but more tame and gentle, and seemed to be more tract- able 198 *UFFON*S able and modest, although as disagreeable irt every other respect. This baboon is found on the Gold Coast, and in the other southern provinces of Africa, •where the negroes call him boggoy and the Eu- ropeans mandrill. This animal is the largest of all the apes or baboons, the orang-outang ex* cepted. Smith relates, that a female mandrill was given him , which was not above six months old, and had then attained the size of an adult baboon; he adds, that these animals walk al- ways erect ; that they sigh and cry like the human spcies; that they have a violent pas* sion for women, which they never fail to gra- tify, if they get them within their reach. Distinctive Characters of this Species. The mandrill has pouches on the sides of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. His tail is very short, not exceeding two or three inches ; his canine teeth are much thicker and longer than those of man. The muzzle is very thick, long, and surrounded on both sides with deep longitudinal wrinkles. His face is flat, naked, and of a bluish colour. His ears, palms of his hands, and soles of his feet, are also naked. His hair is long, of a reddish brown over the body, and grey upon the NATURAL HISTORY. 199 the breast and belly. He walks erect on two feet, but sometimes on all four ; he is from four feet to four feet and a half high when upright. The females are also subject to the periodical emanations. THE OUANDEROU, AND THE LOWANDO. THOUGH these two animals seem to be but one species, we have preserved the two names which they bear in Ceylon, as they at least constitute two distinct breeds. The body of the ouanderou (Jig, 200.) is covered with brown and black hairs ; he has a large long white head of hair, and a monstrous white beard. The body of the lowando, on the contrary, is covered with whitish hairs, and the hair on his head and beard is black. There is also a third race, or variety, found in the same country, which may, possibly, be the common stock of the other two, because it is of a uniform white colour over the body, head, and beard. These animals are not apes but baboons, of which they have all the cha- racters, as well in shape as in disposition; they they are of the same savage nature, arid even more ferocious. They have a long muzzle, a short tail, and are nearly of the same size as the baboon, but their hind parts seem to be more feeble. The person to whom this animal (from which our figure was taken) belonged, told us it came from South America, and that it was called cayoircassoK. I immediately re- collected that this word is a Brasilian term, which is pronounced sajououassou, and signi- fies sapajou; consequently, that this name was misapplied, for all sapajous have long tails, whereas the animal we are treating of is a ba- boon with a very short tail. Besides, there is not a single species of baboon existing in America. Errors, with respect to climate, often happen, especially among those who exhibit wild beasts, who, when they are igno- rant of the real name of the animal, and the country it is a native of, seldom fail to apply a fictitious denomination, which, whether true or false, equally answers their purpose. The ouanderous, when not tamed, are so exceedingly savage and mischievous, that they are obliged to be confined in iron cages, where they are often agitated with great fury. But when taken young they are easily tamed, and even seem to be more susceptible of edu- cation NATURAL HISTORY. 201 •ation than any other baboon. The Indians take a pleasure in instructing them, and pre- tend that the rest of the ape and monkey tribes pay a great deference to these baboons, who are possessed of more gravity and knowledge. In their free slate they are extremely wild, and remain constantly in the woods. If we may credit travellers, those which are all white are the strongest and most mischievous. They have a violent passion for women, and are strong enough to ravish them when found alone, and even to that degree tliat they often kill them. ff The white monkeys, says Forbiri, are lometimes as big as the largest bull-dogs, and are more dangerous than the black. They have a strong desire for women, and often, af- ter having greatly injured them, finish their cruelty with strangling. Sometimes they even come to their houses, but the natives of Ma- cacar, who arc very jealous of their wives, take care to prevent the entrance of such hi- deous rivals into their habitations; and the females, not liking either the manners or figure of such gallants, boldly assist their husbands to oblige their ugly suitors to retire, but which they are not able to accomplish before they Lave damaged or plundered every thing that lies in their way." ▼•fc. ix. D d Distinctive 202 buffon's Distinctive Characters of this Species, The ouanderou has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities upon his posteriors. The tail is seven or eight inches long. The canine teeth are much larger and longer than those of man. The muzzle is long and thick ; his head is covered with loRg hair ; and he has a great beard of coarse hairs. His body is long and slender behind. There aresome amonsc of this species which vary in the colour of their hair ; some have it black on the body, with a white beard ; and others, white on the body with a black beard. They walk more com- monly on four than on two feet, and when erect they are about three feet, or three feet and a half high. The females are subject to a periodica} emanation. THE MAIM/JN. THE apes, baboons, and monkeys, form three tribes, with intervals between each, the first of which is rilled by the magot, and the second by the maimon : the latter forms the shade PIG. SOI M. union ! T^ Ifl 1 1 jEsjS Aj Ssffi^BjS^JiW^C^: ■ ': #» &W^V ==^ *\ ,^§ »- 4^^^. Env ^^SHf 1111== \ Ll Nv'-'lj w* M^s^spB ?P!^^^^^^^^s ^^^ilB&fess;-:- ,^.^afc,^ PQ mRSEnBiBii K "i^dftl 202 FIG. 'OS Macaque AipretL NATURAL HISTORY. 203 shade between the baboons and monkeys, as tli« magot docs between the apes and baboons. The maimon resembles the baboons by his thick and large muzzle, and by his short -and crooked tail; but he differs from them, and approaches nearer the monkeys, by his gentle disposition and smallness of his size. Edwards has given a figure and description of this ani- mal by the denomination of the pig-tailed ape* This particular character is sufficient to dis- tinguish him, for he is the only baboon or mon- key that has a naked tail, curled like i hat of a pig. He is nearly of the same size as (he magot, and so strongly resembles the macaque that he might be taken for a variety of that species, if his tail were not entirely different. His face is naked, and of a tawny colour ; his eyes are of a chesnut, with black eyebrows. His nose is flat,, his lips thin, and furnished with some rough hairs, but too !>h,ort to form whiskers. His genital parts are concealed within the skin, therefore the maimon, though very spirited and full of fire, has none of that impudent petulance of the buboons. He is gentle, tractable, and even fond. He is found in Sumatra, and probably in some other south- ern provinces of India; of course it is with difficulty he can endure the cold of our cli- mate." 204 buffon's mate. That which we saw at Paris lived but a very short time ; and Edwards says, that which lie describes lived only one year in Lon- do.!. u The pig-tailed monkey (says that au- thor) was brought io England in 1752. It Was extremely spirited and lull of action, and was about the size of our common house-cat. It was a male, and lived under my care only one year. "While 1 had mine, a female of the same species, but much larger, was shewn at Bartholomew-fair, London. I brought the two exiles together to compare them, and the moment they came into each other's presence they testified their mutual satisfaction, and seemed quite transported at the interview." Distinctive Characters of this Species. The maimon has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors : •his tail is naked, curled up, and about five or six inches in length. The canine teeth are not longer in proportion than those of men: tha muzzle is very large ; the orbits of the eyes art very prominent above ; the face, ears, hands, and feet , are naked, and of a flesh colour. The hair on the body is of a dark olive, and of a reddish yellow on the belly : he sometimes walks erect, and at othen upon all fours. Whea NATURAL HISTORT. 205 When erect he is about two feet, or two feet and a half high. The female is subject to the periodical emanation. THE MACAQUE, AND THE EGRET. OF all the guenons, or monkeys, with long tails, the macaque (fi°\ 509.) approaches near- est the baboon. Like them his body is short and compact, his head thick, his muzzle broad, his nose flat, his cheeks wrinkled, and he is also larger and taller than most other monkeys. He is so extremely ugly that he might well be looked upon as a smaller kind of baboon, if his tail were not lorn* and tufted ; whereas that of the baboon, in general, is extremely short. This species is a native of Congo, and other southern provinces of Africa. It is nu- merous, and subject to many varieties, with respect to its size, colour, and disposition of the hair. The body of that described by Has- selquist was more than two feet long ; and those we have seen were not above one foot and a half. That which we term the Egret y (fig* 203.) because it hag on the top its head a tuft 20(5 BUFFON-S tuft of hair,, seems to be only a variety of Ihe macaque, which it perfectly resembles, ex- cepting in this and some other slight differ- ences in the hair. Both of them are tractable and docile; but, independently of a disagree- able scent which they diffuse around va^^k -iir«ei — ^^Ir^fl^B ^fll^ :^M ii m ~ ^L:- j&r ^^|S 2 06 FIG. 207 Miutotil'f* C/>i/h,n Bonnet 204 FIG. 205 MMr<«d- Biadc&mded Unas NATURAL HISTORY. 209 they admired them for some time and seemed to discourse with each other about what they had been ; and then quit their stations for their companions j who came after to have the same sight. Some even became so familiar as to throw branches at the Frenchman, who return- ed their salute by the shots of their muskets; some were killed others wounded, and the rest were thrown into the utmost consternation. One party uttered most hideous cries, whil* another picked up stones to throw at their ene- mies, but perceiving at length, how unequal the battle was, they desisted, and prudently retired.' ' It is to be presumed, that it is this species of monkey which le Maire speaks of. " It is hard- ly possible to express, says this traveller, the havock these animals make in Senegal, when the rice, millet, and other grains, on which they feed, are ripe. They assemble together in companies of forty or fifty : one of them remains as centinel on a tree, while the rest commit their depredations. As soon as the centinel perceives any person near, he utters a loud cry, as a signal to the rest, who immedi- ately obey an 1 scamper off with their plunder, leaping from tree to tree with prodigious agi- lity. The females, who carry their young clinging to their breasts, retreat in the same vol. ix. E e manner. §10 buffon's manner as the rest, and leap as if they were not incumbered with any burthen." Distinctive Characters of this Species. The patas has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. His tail is as long as both his head and body : the crown of his head is flat. His muzzle, body, and legs, are long^ He has black hair on the nose, and a narrow line of the same colour over the eyes, extending the breadth of the face. The hair onthe upper parts of His body is of a reddish colour ; and that of the lower, as the throat, breast, and belly, of a yellowish hue. There is a variety in this species, with respect to the colour of the line over the eyes, which is black in some, and white in others. They do not make grimaces when they are angry, like other monkeys. They walk on all fours more frequently than erect. They are from a foot and a half to two feet long, from the muzzle to the origin of the tail. The females are subject to a periodical emanation. THE MALBBOUCK, AND THE BONNET CHINOIS. MALBROU€K (Jig. 204.) is the name of this animal in its native country, Bengal, and Bonnet Chinois (Jig 207.) is a terra given to NATtTRAL HISTORY. 211 to the long tailed monkey, which has a kind of trencher cap on the crown of the head, like the Chinese bonnets. These two monkeys seem to belong to one species ; and thisspecies,though somewhat dif- ferent from that of the macaque,is nevertheless, so far bordering on it, as to make us doubt whether the macaque,the egret, the malbrouck, and the bonnet chinois,are not merely four va- rieties, or permanent races of the same species. As these animals do not propagate in our cli- mate, we have not been able to acquire any knowledge respecting the unity or diversity of their species, and therefore are obliged to judge only by the difference of their figures, and other external attributes. The macaque and the egret, appeared to us so similar, that we pre* turned them to be of one and the same species. It is the same with respect to the malbrouck, and the bonnet chinois ; but, as they differ in a greater degree from the two first than between themselves, we thought it best to separate them. With respect to the diversity of these two tpecies, our presumption is founded, 1. On the difference of their external form ; 2. On the colour and disposition of the hair; 3. On the difference which is found in the proportion of iheir skeletons ; and 4. On the first two men- tioned 212 buffo x's iioned being natives of the southern countries of Africa, and the two that we are now treating of, being natives of Bengal. This last consi- deration is of as great weight as any of the rest, for we have had sufficient proofs, that in wild animals the distance of climate is a sufficient mark oft he remoteness of the species. Besides, the malbrouck and the bonnet chinois, are not the only species or breeds of monkeys which are found in Bengal. By the testimonies of tra- vellers there seem to be four varieties, white, black, red and grey ; they likewise tell us that the black kind are more easily tamed than any of the rest. Those we saw were reddish, and appeared very docile and familiar. " These animals, according to travellers, plunder whole fields of grain, and planta- tions of sugar-cane ; and while one stands ccntinel on a tree, the others load them- selves with the booty. If any person appears, thecentinel gives notice by crying hoitp, houp> houp) which the rest perfectly understand, and all at once throw down the plunder which they hold in their left hands, and scamper offupon three legs ; if close pursued tbey also throw down what they have in their right, and save themselves from their pursuers by climbing up trees, which is their general abode. They leap NATURAL HISTORY. 213 leap from tree to tree, and even the females, though loaded with thoir young ones, leap iik« the others ; but they sometimes, in their haste, miss their aim and fall. They are very diffi- cult to render in any degree docile, and arc never so far tamed as to be suffered to go un- chained. Even in their own country they w ill not produce unless at perfect freedom in the woods. When they cannot procure fruits they feed upon insects, and sometimes go to the sides of the rivers, for the purpose of catching fish and crabs, the latter of which they take by watching the opening of its claws and then putting their tails between ; the crab instantly closes them, when they, with all speed, drag it ashore, and eat it at leisure. They are fond pf cocoa-nuts, and are very expert in extract- ing the juice for drink, and afterwards getting at the kernel, the shell of which is generally made use of as a snare to catch them ; a small hole being made in one of them, the animal ivho meets with it thrusts his paw in with difficulty, when those who have laid the trap run an ! seize him before he can disengage himself They sometimes place bamboos on the tops of trees for the purpose of extracting the zarij which drops from them, and which (hey drink. In the provinces of India, w here the 214 buffon's the Bramins reside, and whose religious tenets do not allow them to kill any animals, the monkeys are almost numberless. They as- semble in large troops, come into the towns, and enter the houses with perfect freedom, and hesitate not to take such provisions, fruits, or herbs as they can meet with, and which it is very difficult to preserve from them." There are three kinds of hospitals in the town of Amadabad, which is the capital of Guzaraf, for animals, and where not only the lame and tick monkeys but also such as are well, if they ch use to live the re, are plentifully supplied with provisions. It is said that the monkeys in the neighbourhood regularly assemble twice a week in the streets of the town, that they go to the tops of the houses, which have a sort of terraces or flat roofs, where they lie in the win ; and that on these days the inhabitants are careful 1o lay upon these terraces rice, millet, sugar- canes, and other fruits in season ; for if by chance they omit to do so, these animals pull off the tiles from the olher part of the house, and do great damage to ihe inside. They do not eat a single thing without smelling at it for a long time, and when they have satisfied their hunger they fill the pouches on the sides of their cheeks for another occasion : they de- stroy NATURAL HISTORY. 215 stroy the nests of birds, and never fail to throw the eggs on the ground when they want appe- tite or inclination to eat them. The most formidable enemy these animals have is the serpent ; no other animal of the forest being able to surprise them, as they are so exceedingly swift and subtle, that they climb up and seat themselves on the tops of the high- est trees. " The apes, says a traveller, have it in their power to be masters of the forest, for neither tigers nor lions are able to dispute the possession with them. The only animal they have to fear is the serpent, which attacks them bo:h night and day. There are some serpents in those forests of a prodigious size, which wind up the trees where the monkejs reside, and when they happen to surprise them sleeping, swallow them whole before they have time to make a defence." Distinctive Characters of this Species. The malbrouck has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. His tail is nearly as long as both the body and head. The eyelids are of a flesh colour, and the face a cinereous grey ; they eyes are large, the muzzle broad and turned upwards ; the ears are large, thin, and of a flesh colour. They have a line of grey hairs on them like the V. 1 5 buFfon's the mone, but the other parts of their bodies are of a uniform colour, a yellowish brown on the upper and a yellowish grey on the lower. He goes on all fours, and is about a foot and a half long from the muzzle to the insertion of the tail. The bonnet chinois seems to be a variety of the malbrouck. They differ in the hair on the crown of the head, which in the latter is disposed in the shape of a cap or flat bonnet, and in the tail which is larger. The females of both arc subject to a periodical emanation. THE MANGABEY.* WE have seen two individuals of this species, both of which were sent to us by the denomination of Madagascar apes. They are easily distinguished from all other mon- keys by a very apparent character. The mangabey (Jig. 206.) has its eyelids naked, and of a very striking whiteness. Their muzzle also is large, thick, and long; and they * This is a precarious name which we have given to this animal, until we know what it is called in its native country. As it is found at Madagascar in the vicinity of Mangabey, this name will make it familiar to travellers, who will thus be- ted to observe it with more precision. NATURAL HISTORY. §17 they have a ring round their eyes. Those we are speaking of varied also in colour, the hair of one being of a blackish brown on the head, neck, and upper parts of the body, and white on the belly; and in the other it was much lighter over all the body^ with a collar of white hair round the neck and cheeks. Both carry their tails turned backwards, the hair of which is long and bushy. They are natives of the same country as the vari, and as they resemble that animal in the length of the muzzle and tail, in the manner of carrying it, and in the varieties of colour; they seem to fill up the chasm betwixt the makis and guenons, or long-tailed monkeys. Distinctive Characters ofikis Species. The mangabey has pouches on each side of -his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. His tail is as long as the head and body : he has a prominent ring of hair over his eyes, and his upper eyelids are particularly white. His muzzle is thick and long ; his eyebrows are rough and bristly : hi* ears black, and almost naked. The hair of the upper parts of his body is brown, and those below are grey. There are varieties in this species, some being of an uniform colour, and others having a ^ol. ix. F f circle 218 button's circle of white hair round the neck and the cheeks in the form of a beard. They walk on four feet, and are nearly a foot and a half long, from the point of the muzzle to the origin of the tail. The females are subject to the periodical emanation. THE MONA.* THIS animal (fig. 209.) is the most com- mon of the monkey tribe; we kept one of them alive for many years, which, with the magot, seems to agree best with the tempera- ture of our climate. This alone is sufficient to prove the mona is not a native of the southern countries of Africa and India. In fact, it is met with in Barbary, Arabia, Persia, and other parts of Asia which were known to the ancients, who denoted it by the name of Jcebosy cebusj and ccephus, because of the variety of * Mona is the name this animal bears in the Spanish and provincial languages. The English word monkey is derived from monkhiy and both seem to owe their rise to mona, or mo- mma} the primitive name of these animals. NATURAL HISTORY. 219 of its colours. The visage of this animal is of a brown hue, with a kind of white beard, mixed with yellow and a little black. The hair on the top of the head and neck is yellow and black intermixed ; that on the back red and black ; the belly and the inner .parts of the thighs and legs whitish, though the external parts of the two latter are black, and the tail of a deep ash colour, marked with two white spots, one on each side, at its insertion. On its forehead there are some grey hairs in the form of a crescent ; from the eyes to the ears there is a black stripe, as there also is from the ears to the shoulders and arms. Some persons have called this animal norine, from a corrup- tion of mone or mono, ; others have termed it the old man, from the grey colour of its beard ; but the denomination by which the mona is most generally known is that of the variegated monkey ; and this perfectly agrees with the name of kebos given it by the Greeks, and the definition of Aristotle, a monkey with a long tail, and of various colours. In general the disposition of the monkeys is much more tractable than that of the baboons, and not so sullen as that of the apes.. They are extravagantly spirited, but not ferocious, for they become docile through fear the moment they 220 buffon's they find themselves subjected by restraint. The mona is particularly susceptible of educa- tion, and even attached to those persons who take care of him. That which we brought lip would suffer himself to be stroaked and handled by those he knew, but would not per- mit this freedom to strangers, whom he would often bite. He was kept chained, appearing very desirous of liberty, for when he either broke his chain, or got loose, he would fly to the fields, but he would suffer himself to be re- taken by his master. He ate every thing that was offered him, roasted meat, bread, and grain ; but his favourite food was fruits ; and he would also search after spiders, ants, and insects. Whenever several pieces were given him toge- ther he put them in the pouches on each side of his cheeks. This practice is common to all the baboon and monkey kind, Nature hav- ing furnished them with those reservoirs, where they can store a quantity of food sufficient to support them for one or two days. Distinct he Characters of this Species-. The mona has pouches on each side of his jaws, and callosities on his posteriors. Hi3 tail is about two feet long, which is longer by six inches than both his body and head. The head PIG.209 Mcma Itujtajc LaUItrlt NATURAL HISTORY. 221 head is small and round, and the muzzle thick and short. The colour of his face is a bright tawney ; a stripe of grey hairs on the forehead, another of black from the eyes to the ears, and from the ears to the shoulders and arms. He has a kind of grey beard formed by the hairs on his throat and breast, which is longer than in any other part. His hair is of a reddish black on the body and whitish under the belly. The outside of his legs and thighs are black, and its tail of a dark ash with two white spots on each side of its insertion. He walks on all fours, and his length, from the snout to the origin of his tail, is about a foot and a half. The female is subject to periodical emanations. THE CALLIIRIX, OR GREEN MONKEY, CALLITRIX is a term made use of by Ho- mer to express in general the beautiful colour of the hair of animals. It was not till many ages after Homer's time, that the Greeks ap- plied this name to some particular kinds of monkeys, and which ; from the propriety of such tc22 BUFFO N'S such a pplication,we must su ppose to be tbe ani- mal in question (Jig. 204?.). The body is of a fine green colour, the neck and belly white, and the face of a beautiful black. He is found in Mauritania, and in Ancient Carthage ; so there is reason to suppose he was known to the Greeks and Romans; and that he was one of the long-tailed monkeys, to which they gave the name of caliitrix. There is also a species of white monkeys in the adjoining provinces of Egypt, both on the side of Ethiopia and of Arabia, which the ancients have also described by the name of caliitrix. Prosper Alpinus and Pietro della Valle, speak of this white monkey, but we have never seen ■ this species, which, perhaps, is only a variety of the green monkey, or the moiia, which is very common in those countries. The caliitrix, or green monkey, appears to be known in Senegal, as well as in Mauritania and in the Cape Verd islands. M. Adanson relates, that the woods of Ponor, along the river Niger, are filled with green monkeys. " I discovered these animals, (says this author) only by their breaking off the branches of trees, and throwing them down ; for they were so very quiet and nimble in their tricks, that it was scarcely possible to perceive them. I did not NATURAL HISTORY. 223 not walk far, before I killed three of them without in the least terrifying any of the rest: however, when numbers felt themselves wound- ed, they began to retreat ; some concealing themselves behind large branches, and others descending to the ground and running away ; but the greatest number leaped from the top of one tree to another. Daring this bustle I kept firing at them and killed about twenty* three in less than an hour, without any of them uttering a single cry, although they several times assembled together, and made au ap- pearance of attacking me." Distinctive Characters of this Species* The callitrix has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. The tail is much longer than both the head and body. The head is small, the muzzle long, and the face and ears are black : instead of eyebrows, he has a narrow stripe of black hairs across the forehead. The body is of a fine green mixed with a little yellow. He walks on four feet ; and the length of his body, in- cluding the head, is about fifteen inches. The female is subject to the periodical emanation. THE 22l bupfon's THE MOUSTAC. THE moustac (Jig. 210.) seems to be a na- tive of the same country as the macaque, be- cause its body is, like that, shorter and more compact than the rest of the monkey tribe. This is, probably, the same animal as those who have been to Guinea call White Nose, from its upper lips being of a white colour, and all the rest of the face of a deep blue. It has also two tufts of yellow hair below its ears, which give it a very remarkable appearance, and as it is but small, it seems to be the most beautiful of the monkey kind. Distinctive Characters of this Species, The moustac has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. The tail is much longer than the head and body, being sometimes nineteen or twenty inches. His face is of a deep blue, with a large broad white mark that goes entirely across the upper lip directly under the nose, which is naked, Done Hi la/ win NATURAL HISTORY. £25 naked, except a slight edging of black hairs both on the upper and under lips. His body is short and compact. There are two tufls of hair, of a bright yellow, below the ears, and another tuft of bristly hair upon the top of the head. The hair on the body is of a greenish cast, and that on the breast and belly of an ash colour. He walks on all fours, and is about a foot and a half long. The female is subject to a periodical emanation. THE TALAPOIN. THIS monkey, (Jig. 211.) though small, is a beautiful animal. Its name seems to indicate that it is a native of Siam, and other eastern provinces of Asia ; but though we cannot po- sitively assert this, it is, however, certain that it belongs to the Old Continent, and is not found any where in the New, because it has pouches on each side of its cheeks, and cal- losities on its posteriors, which characters neither belong to the sagoins nor sapajous, tol. ix. G g which 226 BUFFO N5S which are the only animals of the New World that can be compared to the monkeys. What inclines me to think, independently of its name, that this monkey is more common in the East-Indies than in Africa, is, the tra- vellers affirming that most of the apes in this part of Asia have their hair of a brownish green colour. u The monkeys of Guzarat, they say, are of a greenish brown, with long white beards and eyebrows. These animals, which -the Banians suffer to multiply in great numbers, from a religious principle, are so familiar that they enter the houses in such numbers that the fruiterers and confectioners have no little difficulty to preserve their mer- chandize." Edwards has given a figure and description of a monkey by the name of the middle-sized black ape, which seems to approach nearer to the talapoin than any of the rest. We have made a comparison between the two, and, ex- cepting the size and colour, they have such a resemblance to each other, that there is at least a very great approximation between them, if they are not varieties of the same species. In this case, as we are not certain that bur tala- poin is a native of the East-Indies, and as that spoken of by Mr. Edwards is described by him as NATURAL HISTORY. 227 as an animal belonging to Guinea, we shall refer our talapoin to the same climate, or at least suppose that this species is common in the southern parts both of Africa and Asia. It is also probable, that this is the same as the spe- cies of black monkeys mentioned by Bosman under the name of baurdmannetjes, the skin of which, he informs us, makes a good fur. THE DOUC. THE Douc (jig. 212.) is the last among that class of animals which we have called Apes, Baboons, and Monkeys. This animal, without belonging to any one of these three precisely, yet partakes of them all. Of the monkeys by the length of his tail ; of the ba- boons by his size ; and of the ape by the flat- ness of his face. By a very particular charac- ter he seems to form the shade between the monkey and the sapajous. These two tribes differ from the monkeys, having naked poste- riors, and all the sapajous having them co- vered with hair ; and the douc is the only monkey which has hair on the posteriors like the 228 BUFFO N*S the sapajous. He resembles them also in the flatness of the muzzle; but he is infinitely nearer to the monkey than the sapajous, from his long tail, and other very essential charac- ters. Besides, the interval which separates these two families is immense, for the douc, and all the monkeys, are natives of the Old Continent, whereas the sapajous are only found in the New. We might also remark, that as the douc has a long tail like the monkeysr but no callosities on his posteriors, he forms the link which connects the orang-outang and the monkeys, as the gibbon does in another respect, having no tail, like the orang-outangs, but only callosities on the posteriors. Inde- pendently of these general relations, the douc has particular characters which render him very remarkable, and distinguish him from the apes, baboons, monkeys, or sapajous, at first sight. His skin, which is variegated with dif- ferent colours, seems to indicate the ambiguity of his nature, and distinguishes his species in a very evident manner. He has a purple collar about his neck, a white beard, his lips are brown, and he has a black ring round his eyes; his face and ears are red, the top of his head and body grey, and the breast and belly yel- low. His legs are white downwards and black upwards. NATURAL niSTORY. 229 upwards. His tail is white, with a large spot of the same colour on his loins ; and his feet arc black, intermixed with shades of different colours. This animal, which we were assured came from Cochin-China, seems to be likewise found at Madagascar, and is the same as that indi- cated by Flacourt by the name of sifac in the following terms: u There is, (says he) ano- ther kind of white monkey at Madagascar, which has a brown collar, and is often seen erect on its hind feet : its tail is white, with two brown spots on the flanks: it is larger than the vari (maucauco) but le-s than the varicossi (vari) and this animal is called sifac. It lives upon beans. There are great numbers of them towards Andrivoura, Bambourlomb, and Ranafoulchy." The brown collar, the white tail, and the spots on the flanks, are characters which clearly indicate (hat this sifac of Madagascar is the same species with the douc of Cochin-China. Travellers irfform us that the large apes of the southern parts of Asia produce bezoars in their stomachs, which are superior to those of the goats and gazelles. These large apes are the ouanderou and the douc ; to them, there- fore, we must refer the production of the bezoar. 230 buffon's bczoar. It is pretended that the bezoars of the ape are always round, whereas the other bezoars are of different figures. Distinctive Characters of this Species. The douc has no callosities on his posteriors^ and is cloathed all over with hair : his tail is not so long as his body and head : his face is covered with a reddish down : the ears are naked, and of the same colour as the face : the lips are brown, as are the orbits of the eyes. The colour of the hair is very bright and variegated : he has a purple coloured collar round his neck : his forehead, body, arms, and legs, are white, and on the chin is a kind of yellow beard : he is black on the top of the forehead and the upper part of the arms : the parts below the body are of an ash colour : the tail, and under parts of the loins, are white: he as often walks on two feet as on four : he is three feet and a half, or four feet, high when he is upright. I do not know whether the females in this species be subject to the pe- riodical emanation. CONCLUSION OF THE APES OF THE OLl> CONTINENT. NATURAL HISTORY. 231 THE SAPAJOUS AND THE SAGOINS. WE shall now pass from one continent to the other ; all the four-handed animals which we have described, and which we compre- hended under the generic names of Apes, Ba- boons, and Monkeys, belong exclusively to the Old Continent ; and all those which remain to be spoken of are only to be found in the New World. We shall first distin- guish them by the two generic names of Sa- pajous and Sagoins. Both these animals have their feet nearly like those of the apes, baboons, and monkeys ; but they differ from the apes by having tails, and from the ba- boons and monkeys by not having a pouch in each cheek, nor callosities on their posteriors ; in short, they differ from the apes, baboons, and monkeys, by having a broad division be- tween their nostrils, and the apertures being on the sides and not under the nose ; there- fore the sapajous and sagoins are not only specifically, but even generically different from the apes, monkeys, and baboons. When compared together they are also found to differ in Q32 buffon's in some generic characters, for every sapajou has a long tail, which he can make use of to seize or lay hold of any object. This tail they bend, extend, and curl at pleasure, and by the extremity of which they suspend themselves from the branches of trees to reach whatever they want : the under part of this tail is com- monly without hair, and covered with a smootli skin. The tails of the sagoins, on the con- trary., are proportionably longer than those of the sapajou s, and are weak, straight, and en- tirely covered with hair, so that they cannot jnake use of them either to lay hold of any object, or for the purpose of suspending them- selves. This difference is alone sufficient to distinguish the sapajou from the sagoin. We are acquainted with eight sapajous, which probably should be reduced to five species. The first is the ouarine, or gouariba, of Brasil. This sapajou is as large as a fox, and only differs from that which is called donate in its colour. The ouarine lias black hair, and the alouate red ; and as they perfectly resemble each other in every other respect, I consider them as belonging to the same species. The second is the coaila, which is black like the ouarine, but not so large : the exquima seems to be a variety of this species. The third is the sajoii> or NATURAL HISTORY. S33 orsapajou, properly so called. This is small, has brown hair, and commonly known by the name of the capuchin monkey. There is a variety in this species, which we shall call the grey sajou, and which only differs from the brown sqjou by this difference of colour. The fourth is the sai, called by some travellers the howler ; he is larger than the sajou, and his muzzle is broader : there are two kinds, which differ only by the colour of the hair, the one being of a reddish brown, and the other of a lighter colour. The fifth is the samiri, com- monly called the orange monkey. This last is the smallest and most beautiftd of all the sa- pajous. We are acquainted with six species of sagoins. The first and largest is the saki, whose tail is covered with hair so long and so bushy that it has acquired the name of the fox-tailed monkey. There appears to be a variety in this species, for I have seen two, both of which appeared to be adult, and yet one was almost twice as big as the other. The second is the tamarin, which is generally black, with four yellow feet, but they vary in colour, some being found of an olive brown, spotted. The third is the ouistiti) remarkable for large tufts of hair round his face, and an annulated tail. The fourth is vol. ix. H h the 234 buffon's the mankind^ which has a kind of mane on (he neck, and a bunch of hair, like the lion, at the end of the tail, whence it has been called the small lion. The fifth is the pinche, whose face is of a beautiful black colour, with hairs descending from the top and sides of the head, in the form of long smooth tresses . And the sixth is the mico, which is the most beautiful animal of this kind ; its hair is of a silver co- lour, and its face as red as vermilion. We shall now give the history of each of these sa- pajous and sagoins, most of which have been little known. THE OUARINE ANB THE ALOUATE. THE Ouarine and the Alouate are the larg- est four-handed animals belonging to the New Comment : they surpass the size of the largest monkey, at d approach that of the baboon. They have prehensile tails and are consequent- ly of the sapajous family, in which they hold a very distinguished rank, not onlywith regard t« NATURAL HISTORY. gft id stature, but also by voice, which resounds like a drum, and may be heard at a very great distance. Marcgrave informs us, u that every morning and evening the ouarines assemble in the woods ; that one among them seats himself on an elevated place, makes a sign with his hand to the re*t to seat themselves round him ; that as soon as he sees them all seated, he be- gins an oration with so quick and loud a voice as to be heard at a great distance, and it might be imagined they were all making a noise to- gether, fent during the whole time the rest keep a profound silence ; that when he has end- ed, he makes a signal to the others to reply, and immediately they all set up a cry together, till such lime as by another sign with his hand, he orders them to be silent, and which they instantly obey ; that then the first renews his discourse, or song, which, when finished, and the others have paid the utmost attention to it, the whole assembly breakup." These circum- stances, of which Marcgrave says, he has many times been an eye-witness, may possibly be exaggerated, and seasoned a little with the marvellous. The whole, probably, is only founded on the frightful noise these animals make ; they have in their throats a kind of bony drum, in the cavity of which the sound of §55 buffon's of the voice thickens, encreases, and forms n kind of howling reverberation ; upon which account these sapajous have been distinguished from the re^t by the name of howlers. We have never seen the ouarine, but we have the skin and the dried feet us of an alouate,in which the instrument of the loud noise he makes, that is to say, the bone of the throat, is very appa- rent. According to Marcgrave, the face of the ouarine is broad ,the eyes black and sparkling, the ears short and round, and a tail naked at the extremity, which holds firmly whatever it encircles ; the hair of the body is black, long, and glossy ; it is much the longest under the chin, and forms a kind of round beard ; the hair on the hands, feet, and a part of the tail,is brown. The female is of the same colour as the male, and only differs from him in being smaller. The females carry their young on their backs, and thus loaded leap from branch to branch and from tree to treee. The young ones clasp the mother round the narrowest part of the body with the hands and arms, and thus remain firmly fastened, while she keeps in mo- tion. These animals are so wild and mischiev- ous,that they can neither be tamed nor subdu- ed; they bite dreadfully, and although they are not among the carnivorous animals, yet they excite NATURAL HISTOIiV. 237 excite fear by their frightful voice and ferocious air. As they live only on fruits, grain, and some insects, their flesh is not bad eating. u The hunters, says Oexmelin, bring home in the evening the monkies they have killed in the Cape Gracias-a-Dio ; they roast one part of these animals and boil the other ; its flesh is very good, and resembles that of the hare, but being of a sweetish flavour, a good quantity of salt must be put to that part which is roasted ; the fat is yellowr like that of a capon, and is very- good . We lived on these animals all the time ■we remained there, because we could procure no other food, and our hunters brought us every day as many of them as we could eat. My curiosity led me to see the method of hunt- ing them, and I was surprised at their sagacity, not only in particularly distinguishing their enemies, but also in the manner in which they defended and secured themselves. When we approached towards them, they assembled to- gether, set up loud and frightful cries, and threw branches at us which they broke from the trees ; some voided their excrements in their hands, and threw them at our heads. I also remarked, that they never forsook each other ; that they leaped from tree to tree with an almost imperceptible nimbleness : and that, though 23S BtJFFON's though they took (be most desperate leaps, they seldom fell to the ground ; because they never missed catching hold of the branches either with their hands or tail, which rendered it very difficult to take them, even after they were shot, unless absolutely killed ; for if only wounded, they remain clinging to the branch, where they often die, and do not drop off until they are putrefied. I have seen them bang in thismanner for fouror fivedays after death,and it is not uncommon to shoot fifteen or sixteen without being able to get more than two or three. What appeared still more singular, the moment one of them was wounded, the rest assembled round, and clnpt their fingers into the wound , as if they were desirous of sounding its depth ; and if the blood flow in any quan- tity, some of them keep it shut up, whileothers get leaves; which they chew and thrust into the orifice. I have seen this circumstance several times with admiration. The females bring forth only one at a time, which they carry on their backs in the same manner as the Negresses do their children. When they suckle their young, they take them in their paws, and present the breast to them like a woman. There is no other way of taking the young than by shooting its mother, for she never NATURAL HISTORY. 939 never forsakes it ; but when she is killed, it tumbles to the ground, and then it is ea>ily taken." Dampier confirms most of these eircum- stances ; but asserts, that these animals com- monly bring forth two at a time, and that the mother carries one under her arm and the other upon her back. The smallest species of sapa- jous do not bring forth many, and it is there- fore very probable that the largest produce not more [than one or two at a time Distinctive Characters of this Species. The ouarine has the apertures of the nostrils placed on the sides, and not under the nose ; the partition which divides the nostrils is very thick. He has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws, nor callosities on his posteriors, those parts being covered with hair like the rest of the body. His tail is long and prehensile. His hair u long and black, and in his throat is a thick concave bone. He is about the size of a greyhound. The long hair under his neck forms a kind of round beard, and he generally walks on all fours. The alouate has the same character as the ouarine, and seems to differ from him only in. fraying a larger beard, and a reddish-coloured hair. 240 buffon's hair. I do not know whether the females of this species are subject to a periodical emana- tion ; but from analogy, I should presume the contrary, for I have generally observed, that the apes, baboons, and monkeys, with naked posteriors, alone are subject to this emanation. THE COAITA, AND THE EXftUIMA. NEXT to the ouarine and the alouate, the coaita (fig. 213.) is the largest of thesapajous. I saw one alive at the Duke of Bouillon's, where, by its familiarity and forward caresses, it deserved and obtained the affection of those who had it under their care ; but notwithstand- ing all the good treatment and attention paid to it, it could not resist the cold of the winter 1764. It died regretted by its master, who was so kind as to send it to me to place it in ihe Royal Cabinet. I saw another at the Marquis de Montmirail's, the latter was a male, and the former a female, and both were equally tractable and well tamed. This sapajou, by its gentle and docile dis* position? natural history; 241 position, differs greatly from the ouarine and the alouate, which are extremely wild and un- tameable. It also differs from them in not having a bony pouch in the throat. Like the ouarine, its hair is black, but rough. The coaita also differs from them, in having but four ringers and no thumb to the fore paws : by this character and its prehensile tail it is easily distinguished from the monkeys, who have all five ringers and a flaccid tail. The animal which Marcgrave calls exquima is very similar to the coaita^ and, perhaps, is only a variety of that species. This author seems to have been deceived when he said that the exquima was a native of Guinea and Con* go. The figure he has given of it, is alone sufficient to demonstrate his error ; for the ani- mal is there represented with a tail curled at the extremity, a character which belongs sole- ly to thesapajous; consequently, the exquima of Marcgrave is not, as he tells us, a monkey of Guinea, but a sapajou with a prehensile tail, which, without doubt, had been transport- ed there from Brasil. The word exquima^ or qiiimd) expunging the article e.r, ought to be pronounced quoima^ and then it is not very distant from quoaita, which is written coaita by many authors. Every circumstance, there- to l. ix. I i fore, £42 buffon's fore, concurs to prove, that this exquima of Marcgrave was a sapajou of Brasil, and only a variety of the coaita, which it resembles in nature, size, colour, and the prehensile tail. The only material difference consists in the ex? quima having a whitish hair on the belly, and a white beard under the chin, about two inches long. Our coaitas have neither this while hair nor the beard : but what makes me still presume that this difference is not sufficient to constitute two distinct species is the testimo- nies of travellers, who tell us, that there are both black and white coaitas, and that some of them have beards, and others are without. " There are (says Dampier) in the isthmus of America, great numbers of monkeys, some of which are white, but the most of them black ; some have beards, others none ; they are of a middling size, and in dry weather when tlie fruits are in season they are very fat ; their flesh is then extremely good, and we ate great num- bers of them, which example was after a time followed by the Indians, who were shy of eat- ing them at first. In the rainy seasons these animals have a quantity of worms in their bowels, and I have seen some of them several feet long. — These monkeys are very droll, and played a thousand grotesque tricks as we tra- versed NATURAL HISTORY. 243 versed the woods ; leaping from branch to branch with their young upon their backs, making faces, chattering, and even seeking opportunities to make water upon our heads. When they are unable to leap from one tree to another, on account of the distance, their dexterity is very surprising ; they form a kind of chain, hanging down by each other's tails; one of (hem holding the branch above, the rest swing to and fro like a pendulum, until the undermost is enabled to catch hold of the branches of the other tree, when the first lets go his hold and thus comes undermost in his turn ; and then, by degrees, they all get upon the branches of the tree without ever coming to the ground.' ' All these particulars perfectly agree with ourcoaitas. M. Daubenton, in his dissection of these animals, found a great quan- tity of worms in their entrails, some of which were from twelve to thirteen inches long. We cannot, therefore, have any doubt but that the exquima of Marcgrave is a sapajou of the same, or at least of a very proximate species to that of the coaita. We must likewise observe, that if the ani- mal indicated by Linnaeus, under the name of diana, be, in fact, as he says, the exquima of Marcgrave, he has omitted the prehensile tail, which 211 BITFFON^S which is the most essential character, and whicii alone will decide whether this diana belong to- the sapajou or monkey genus, and of course, whether it be found in the Old or New Con- tinent. Independently of this variety, the characters of which are very apparent, there are other varieties, though less striking, in the species of the coaita. That described by Brisson had whitish hair on all the lower parts of the body, while those which we have seen were entirely black, and had but very little hair on those parts, the skin being plainly seen, which was bIso of a black colour. One of the two coaitas spoken of by Mr. Edwards was black, and the other brown : they are termed, says he, spider monkeys, on account of their tail and limbs being so very long and slender. Some years ago a coaita was presented to me by the name of chameck^ which I was informed came from the coast of Peru. I had it measured, and made a description of it, in order to com- pare itwiththatwhichM.Daubenton had given of the coaita, and immediately discovered that this chameck of Peru, a few varieties except- ed, is the same animal as the coaita of Guiana. The sapajous are very sagacious and dex- terous : they go in companies, and mutually warn NATURAL HISTORY. 245 Warn and assist each other. Their tail serves them exactly like a fifth hand ; and they seen! even toeraploy that more than either their hands or feet. Nature by this addition seems to have recompensed them for the want of a thumb. It is asserted that they catch fish with this long tail, and which does not appear incredible, for we have seen one of our coaita's lay hold of a squirrel, which had been put into the same apartment, with his tail, and drag him out. Russel, in his History of Jamaica, speaking of this animal, says, " this creature has no more than four fingers to each of its fore paws : but the top of the tail is smooth underneath, and on this it depends for its chief actions, for the creature holds every thing by it, and flings it- self with the greatest ease from every tree and branch by its means. It is a native of the main continent, and a part of the food of the Indians." They have the address to break the shell of the oysters, in order to eat them ; and it is certain that many of them suspend them- selves to the tail of each other, either to pass over a brook, or to swing from one tree to another. The females bring forth only one or two young ones at a time, which they always carry on their backs. They feed upon fish, worms, and insects, but fruit is their common food,. £46 BUFFO N*S food, and they grow fat when it is ripe, when; it is said, their flesh is good and exquisite eating. Distinctive Characters of this Species. The eoaita has neither pouches on the side* of his jaws, nor callosities on the posteriors : he has a very long prehensile tail. Tbe par- tition of the nostrils is very thick, and the apertures are placed on the side, and not under the nose. He has only four ringers on his hands or fore-feet : his hair and skin are black : his face is naked and tawny : his ears are also naked, and of the same form as the human race. He is about a foot and a half long, and his tail is longer than the head and body to- gether ; he walks on all fours. The exquima is nearly of the same size as the eoaita, and, like that animal, has a prehen- sile tail ; his hair, however, is not black, but variegated. There are some which are black and brown on the back and white on the belly, with a very remarkable beard. These differ- ences, however, are not sufficient to constilute two different species, especially as there are coaitas not entirely black, but which have a vhitish hair on the throat and belly. the 213 tjg. Chad -14 Brown Capuchin NATURAL HISTORY. 217 jmti TJIE SAJOU.* WE are acquainted with two varieties in this species, the Brown Sajou, (jig' 214.) com- monly called the capuchin monkey ; and the Grey Sajou, which differs from the other only in the colour of its hair. They are of the same size, the same shape, and the same dis- position : both are lively, active, and very amusing, by their tricks and nimbleness. We have had them alive ; and of all the sapajous they appeared to be those with which the temperature of our climate seemed least to dis- agree. They live here for many years with- out much trouble, provided they are kept in a warm room during winter. We can even give examples of their producing in this country. Two were brought forth at Madame de Pom- padour's, at Versailles, one at M. de Reamur's, at Paris, and another at Madame de PourscFs, in Gatinois ; but these were only single pro- ductions, whereas in their own climate they pften bring forth two. These sajous are very fantastical * This word is abridged from cayouassou or sajouassou\ thq xuxues by which there animals are called at Maragnon. 248 buffon's fantastical in their tastes and affections : the y are extremely fond of some persons, and have as great an aversion for others. We observed a singularity in these animals, which causes the females to be often taken for the males. The clitoris is prominent outward- ly, and is as much seen, as the sexual organ of the male. Distinctive Characters of this Species. The sajous have neither pouches on the sides of their jaws, nor callosities on their posteriors. Their face and ears are of a flesh colour, with a little down on them. The partition of the nostrils is thick, and their apertures are placed pretty close to each other. Their tail is pre- hensile, naked underneath at the extremity, and Tory bushy over every other part. Some have black and brown hair, as well about the face as on all the u pper pa rts of the body . O thers are grey about the face, and of a light brown on the body. Their hands are always black and naked. They are but a foot long from the extremity of the muzzle to the insertion of the tail. They walk on all fours.* * In a description of M. Vosmaer, printed at Amsterdam in 1770, there is an account of a singular species of the flying American ape, &c. which, however, appear* to be the same animal as our brown sajou. NATURAL HISTORY. 249 Jr— THE S A I. OF the Sai (Jig. 215.) we have seen two which seem to make a variety in the species. The hair of the first was a deep brown, and that of the second, which we have called the White-throated Sai, has white hair on the breast, neck, and round the ears, and cheeks ; and it differs also from the first, in its face being less hairy ; but in other respects they perfectly resemble each other ; being of the same disposition, size, and shape. Travellers have described these animals by the name of tceepers, from their plaintive moan. Others have called them musk monkeys, because like the maucauco they have a musky odour. They have likewise been termed macaque, borrowed from the animals so called in Guinea ; but the macaque is a monkey with a flaccid tail; while the animals we are speaking of belong to the sapajous, their tails being prehensile. The fe- males have only two teats, and bring forth but one or two at a time. They are gentle, docile, vol. ix. K k and 25'0 buffo n's ami so timid, that their common cry, which re* sembles that of a rat, becomes a kind of groan- ing when the j are threatened witli danger. Their food in this climate is principally snails and beetles, which they prefer to any other ; but in their native country of Brasil, they chiefly live upon grain and wild frui(s which they pluck from the trees, from whence they seldom descend till they have stripped their habitation of its treasure. Distinctive Characters of this Species. The sai has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws, nor callosities on his posteriors. The partition of the nostrils is very thick, and the apertures are placed on the side, and not be- neath the nose. The face is round and flat, and the ears almost naked. The tail is prehen- sile and naked towards the extremity. The hair on the upper part of the body is a deep brown, and on the lower parts, of a yellowish grey. These animals arc not above fourteen inches long, and their tails are longer than the head and body together. They walk always on four feet. The females are not subject to the periodical emanation. the NATURAL HISTORY. 25 1 THE SAIMIRI. The Saimiri is commonly known by the name of the Aurora, the Orange, or Yellow Sapajou. It is very common at Guiana, for which reason many travellers have styled it the Cayenne Sapajou. From the gracefulness of its motions, the smallness of its size, the bril- liant colour of ils coat, the fullness and bright ness of its eyes, and its small round visage, the saimiri has ever taken the lead of every other sapajou, and it is, in fact, the most beau- tiful and pleasing of this tribe ; but it is also the most delicate and the most difficult to transport and preserve. From these cha- racters, and particularly from that of the tail, which may be said to be but half prehensile, for though it makes use of it to climb up trees, yet it can neither strongly hold, nor firmly fix itself by it, it seems to form the shade be- tween the sapajous and the sagoins. Distinctive 252 BUFFON*S Distinctive Characters of this Species* ,The saimiri Las neither pouches on each side the cheeks, nor callosities on the posteriors. The partition which divides the nostrils is thick, and the apertures are placed on the side and not under the nose. He may be said to have no forehead. His hair is of a bright yellow colour ; and he has two flesh-coloured rings round the eyes. His nose is elevated at the root, and flat towards the nostrils. The mouth is small, the face flat and naked, and the ears are garnished with hair and a little pointed. The tail is half-prehensile and longer than the body. He is scarcely more than: ten of eleven inches in length. He stands on Lis hind feet with great ease, but he commonly walks on all fours. THE S A K I. THE Saki, (Jig. 216.) commonly called the Fox-tailed Monkey , from its tail being cloath- ed with very long hair, is the largest of the sagoins, being above seventeen inches long when full grown, whereas the largest of the other NATURAL HISTORY. 253 other five species is not above nine or ten. The saki has very long hair on its body, and still longer on its tail : its face is red, and co- vered with a whitish down : it is easy to be known and distinguished from every other sagoin, sapajou, or monkey, by the following characters : Distinctive Characters of this Species. The saki has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws, nor callosities on his posteriors. His tail is not prehensile but flaccid, and half as long again as his head and body. The aper- tures of the nostrils are placed on the side of the nose, and the partit ion is very thick. The face is brown, and covered with a fine short, whitish down. The hair on the upper parts of the body is of a deep brown, and those of the lower of a reddish white. The hair is very long on the body, and still loiiger on the tail, extending near two inches beyond the point; this hair on the tail is generally of a deep brown colour. There seems to be a variety in this species with respect to colour, as there are sakis to be met with whose hair is of a reddish, yellow colour. This animal goes on all fours, and is about a foot and an half long, from the tip of the nose to the insertion of the tail. The females of this species have not the perio- dical emanation. TH15 dot' buffon's 55» THE TAMARIN. THIS is the name which the animal bears in Cayenne : it is called the little black monkey by some, and the great-eared monkey by others. It is much smaller than that which we have just described, and differs from it in many characters, particularly in the tail, which is cloathed only with short hair, whereas that of the saki is furnished with very long. The tamarin has also large ears and yellow feet. It is a pret'y and lively animal, and very easily tamed, but so exceedingly delicate as to be unable long to resist the intemperance of our climate. Distinctixe Characters of this Species-. The tamarin has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws, nor callosities on his poste- riors. His tail is flaccid, and as long again as his head and body. The partitions between the nostrils are very thick, and the apertures are on the sides, and not under the nose. The face is of a dark flesh colour. The ears are square, large, naked, and of the same colour, and .tf^h. '"■'**. 4g f tfl^n,,, ^^^n j| W^jkji ■» ^/^g^M^JM Ug^^^f^ * Wsi^^^i- ^^sHsSfr TG.21 Oi.