The Gramineæ, like the Ferns,—to use an expression of Humboldt’s,—“ennoble themselves” under the Tropics: witness the Bamboo, the Sugar-Cane, the Sorgho, and the great Panicums. Of the latter genus we have already seen in Africa numerous species. America in its turn offers to our attention the Panicum maximum and plicatum, wood-inhabiting Gramineæ, which without attaining to the dimensions of the bamboo, or even to that of the cane, far surpass that of their European congener, the millet.

Upon the umbrageous banks of the Rio Magdalena grows a creeping Aristolochus, whose flowers in their extraordinary development surpass those of the Rafflesia Arnoldi, measuring often three feet and a half in circumference. The forests of which we are now speaking also nourish numerous species of Convolvulus; I may particularize the Convolvulus batatas, a climbing plant, whose roots produce the feculent and saccharine tubercules known over the wide world by the name of “Patates,” and frequently but erroneously confounded with that most useful vegetable, the Potato. The root of another Convolvulus, a native of Mexico, constitutes the Jalap officinalis, which figures in the veterinary pharmacopœia as an important purgative.

While speaking of the poisonous plants of South America, a few words in reference to the Manchineal (Hippomane Mancenilla) will not be inappropriate. This tree thrives best, it is said, on the sea-shore. It bears a profusion of very pretty fruit, resembling in colour and form the Red Apple (the Spanish Manzanilla), and exhaling an agreeable, lemon-like odour. They are, therefore, scarcely less beguiling than Dead Sea fruits; but they are also very poisonous, yet less deadly than the milky juice which flows from the slightest incision made in the tree’s thick and grayish bark. This juice, received into the stomach, or introduced into the blood through a wound, slays the victim with awful quickness. If it do but touch the skin, it excites a violent irritation, and raises swellings or boils of the worst description. The very vapour which it emits causes a painful itching in the eyes, the lips, and the nostrils. It was formerly asserted that to sleep under the shade of a Manchineal tree was certain death; but the naturalist Jacquin, in the interests of science, courageously made the experiment, and proved the falsity of the story.

The Manchineal is not unfrequently confounded with other poisonous Euphorbiaceæ, as the Sapium aucuparium and the Excœcaria agallochia, which flourish in very nearly the same regions. The Excœcaria, it is said, is not less dangerous than the Manchineal. It owes its name (ex, and cœcus, “blind”) to the circumstance (or the fable) that some European sailors, while felling wood in the forest, having accidentally struck with their axe a tree of this species, were blinded by the milky juice which sprang into their eyes.

If we direct our attention to medicinal plants, we shall probably find none more precious than the Quinquina, whose bark is the most effective of all febrifuges, and which is endowed, moreover, with very valuable tonic and depuratory properties. Sir Samuel Baker, in his recent address to the British Association at Dundee, pronounced it the traveller’s best friend, the powerful weapon with which he could securely enter the African wilderness, and successfully contend against its demon-host of fevers and agues. The Quinquinas (genus, Cinchona; family, Rubiaceæ) are trees or evergreen shrubs with large and handsome leaves, and flowers whose form and fragrance remind one of the lilac. They are diffused over the two slopes, but chiefly along the eastern slope, of the Andean Cordilleras, in the republics of Venezuela, New Granada, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. The traveller meets them occasionally in picturesque groups or thickets which the Peruvians call Manchas (spots); but they are more frequently scattered in immense forests.

What of the lactiferous and resinous plants? South America is the native land of the trees whence we extract the resinous gums called “Animé d’Amérique,” “White Amber,” and “Soft Brazilian Copal,” and the “Hevea Guyanensis,” which furnishes the greater portion of the caoutchouc imported into Europe.

The Banana, the American Agave, the Bamboo, and divers Palm-trees supply the inhabitants of South America with suitable materials for the fabrication of various tissues, from the finest and most brilliant linen cloth to the rude mats which ornament the cabin of the savage. Trees bearing fruits or edible roots are innumerable. To the Bananas and Cocoa-trees which I have already mentioned, we may add, as the most useful, the Maranteas or Canneas, especially the Maranta arundinacea, M. alloya, and M. nobilis, whose roots, rasped and washed, constitute the popular and valuable farina so widely known as Arrow-root; the Guavas (Psidium pyriferum, and P. pomiferum), whose gilded fruits contain a succulent and perfumed pulp; the Papaw tree (Carica papaya), resembling the Palm in its port and aspect, and also loaded with large yellowish fruit, whose flesh is exceedingly savoury and aromatic. The Papaw, moreover, enjoys some extremely remarkable properties; thus, its milky juice exhales, when burnt, an ammoniacal odour, and chemical analysis has recognized therein the presence of fibrine. Mix some of this juice in water, plunge into the mixture fresh hard meat, and in a few moments it will become exquisitely tender. The very exhalations of the tree operate in the same manner, and the inhabitants of the regions where it flourishes suspend to its branches such meat and poultry as they wish to soften.

I have not mentioned, among the species proper to the Forests of the New World, those which are common with our own, and which abound upon elevated lands. The extraordinary height to which not only isolated mountains, but whole districts rise, in the vicinity of the Equator, and the low temperature which is the consequence of this elevation, provide the inhabitant of the Torrid Zone with a remarkable spectacle. For while, as Humboldt remarks, he may look around him upon groves of palms and bananas, he also sees those vegetable forms which are regarded as more particularly belonging to the countries of the North. Cypresses, firs, and oaks, barberries and alders, closely resembling our own, cover the table-lands of Southern Mexico and that part of the Andes which the Equator traverses. Thus Nature allows the denizen of the Torrid Zone to see, without quitting his native land, all the vegetable forms of the earth, at the same time that from one pole to the other the entire vault of heaven reveals to his gaze its luminous worlds.

Probably there is no richer field on earth for the naturalist, the poet, or the artist than the virgin forest;—

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SOME thousands of years ago—no long period in the history of creation, though so far outstripping the written records of man—gigantic animals, with huge trunks and ivory tusks, forming the family of Proboscideæ, were distributed throughout all the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and America.

Many curious fables are told by the Indians in reference to this extinct quadruped. The Shawnee Indians believe that contemporary with them lived a race of men of proportionate dimensions, and that the Great Being destroyed both the one and the other with thunderbolts. Those of Virginia state that the “Great Man on High” slew this colossal genus, because it was exterminating the animals created for the use of man, and that none escaped but the hugest bull, who, having been wounded by the celestial bolts, fled towards the great lakes, in whose solitudes he wanders to this very day. The Indians of Canada and Louisiana designate the Mastodon by the name of “Father of the Bulls,” probably on account of the bones of cattle disinterred with his own.

The Mammoth (Elephas primigenius) is known to us only by the fossil remains which have been discovered embedded in the glacial deposits of the Intermediate epoch. The first discovery took place in 1799, under circumstances which are thus recorded in the Zoologist.

A second carcass was afterwards discovered on the bank of the Asaleïa, which empties its waters into the Frozen Sea, by the traveller Sarytcheff. It was standing upright, and wholly covered with its skin and fur. Finally, a third has been recently found in the same region, and the Museum at Paris possesses a portion of its skin, with a tuft of wool, and some relics of the mane.

The Mammoth naturally leads us to an examination of his descendant and congener, the Elephant; the largest and strongest, the most sagacious and docile of all living animals.

Elephants, of which only two species at present exist, the Asiatic and African, are natives of tropical regions, where they prefer to inhabit the depths of the forests, quitting their umbrageous recesses only at night, in search of food, or to quench their thirst in the nearest stream.

The whole form of the animal suggests the idea of unwieldy strength. His head is large, with extremely small eyes, and very large and pendulous ears; he has an arched back, and a huge thick body, which rests upon clumsy and shapeless legs; his feet are slightly divided into five rounded heaps; the upper jaw is armed with two enormous projecting tusks, which measure in many instances six or seven feet; and he is endowed with an extraordinary proboscis or trunk, of such strength that it can uproot trees, and of such delicacy that it can gather grass. This organ, nearly eight feet in length, conveys the food to the mouth, and pumps up the enormous draughts of water, which by its recurvature are turned into and driven down the capacious throat, or showered over the body. Its length supplies the place of a long neck, which would have been incompatible with the support of the large head and weighty tusks. A glance at the head will show the thickness and strength of the trunk at its insertion; and the massy arched bones of the face and thick masculine neck, are wonderfully adapted for supporting and working this powerful and marvellous instrument.

The African Elephant (Elephas Africanus) differs from the preceding in the structure of his grinder teeth, in the length of his tusks, which are enormous, and in his ears, whose trumpet is also of great dimensions. He was formerly met with throughout all the African continent, and was much employed in war by the Carthaginians and Egyptians. From the northern regions of Africa he has now disappeared, but large herds still haunt the whole southern division, from the Senegal to the Cape, and the eastern districts, as far north as Abyssinia. He is also found in all the African interior, whose inhabitants deal in ivory as the staple of their commerce. His height is equal to that of the Asiatic elephant, and the habits of the two species are identical.

Elephants live in the forests, gathering in troops of from thirty to about one hundred individuals, and as they require a very extensive area of pasturage, it is said that they pitilessly expel from their domains all other animals which trespass therein to share the product.

Each herd marches under the guidance of an acknowledged chief. When they sally forth from their retreats to devastate a field, or to wander in quest of fresh pastures, they observe a very regular order of march; the young and the females occupying the centre, the males assemble round them in a circle. If danger threatens, the little ones take refuge under the breast of their mothers, who fold their trunks about them.

The Africans hunt the elephant for the sake of his ivory and flesh; in India, and the isles of the Indian Ocean, to reduce them to subjection. In Africa, for many negro populations, ivory and “ebony wood” (an euphuism by which the slave-dealers designate their black slaves) are the sole articles of commerce, and the majority of the English, Dutch, and French colonists carry on a considerable traffic in elephants’ teeth. The negroes excavate wide pits which they cover over with branches; and the elephants falling into them are precipitated headlong upon sharpened stakes; or they kill them either with arrows, assegays, or musketry. Hunting them with spears is truly a ferocious pastime. The poor elephant only succumbs after receiving so great a number of projectiles that his body resembles an enormous porcupine. He rarely turns upon his aggressors; he seeks to fly; he fills the air with plaintive wailings; the female throws her huge bulk between her young ones and the enemy; the male sometimes rushes furiously upon his assailants, and woe to the latter if he overtake them; he crushes them under his hoofs, he pierces them with his tusks, or seizes them with his trunk, and dashes them upon the earth a shapeless and bleeding mass. But nimble and experienced hunters easily elude his charge, whose onset he is prevented from moderating by his weight, or from rapidly changing its direction.

Ivory is not the only valuable product which the elephant yields; his hide, very thick and very tenacious, can be utilized for many purposes. The bucklers made of it by the negroes are scarcely less precious than the shield of Ajax, which was formed of a bull’s hide sevenfold. The animal’s flesh is also eaten, although too tough and too strongly flavoured for an European palate.

In India and the Indian islands the chase is carried on to make prisoners, and not victims. Its most remarkable feature is the important and almost indispensable assistance which the tame elephants render man against their wild brethren, zealously aiding to reduce them into slavery; now serving as baits to beguile and attract, and now as gendarmes, or rather as convict-warders, to compel their obedience. In Ceylon, elephant-hunting is almost an affair of State; it is like a national war, in which the Government appeals to the goodwill of the population generally, both Europeans and natives.

As soon as it is known that a troop or horde of elephants has assembled in a forest, the natives set to work, and with trunks of trees fixed in the ground and supported by transversal bars and buttresses, construct a vast palisaded enclosure, or corral, whose entrance forms a kind of gullet so narrow that the animals can only enter one by one, and once drawn into it are unable to return. This being accomplished, a thousand men, Europeans or Cingalese, surround the forest; they enclose the herd in a circle which incessantly contracts, and drive them before them by waving their torches, and keeping up a grand tintamarre of tamtams, trumpets, and musket-shots. The frightened animals can find no other avenue of escape than the entrance to the corral, where are placed, moreover, as an attraction, some females trained to act as decoys.

The appearance of the Rhinoceros upon the globe was probably contemporaneous with that of the Proboscideæ. Fossil remains of the animal have been discovered in the temperate, and even the cold countries of Asia and Europe. In 1772 an entire rhinoceros, admirably preserved, was found embedded on the banks of a Siberian river, in the ancient frozen soil. Now-a-days he is exclusively confined to the tropical regions of the Old World. He lives a solitary life in the dense jungles of India, the Sunda Islands, Central and Austral Africa. Naturalists distinguish six varieties—the Rhinoceros of India, the one-horned Rhinoceros of Java, the two-horned Rhinoceros of Sumatra, the unarmed Rhinoceros, the two-horned Rhinoceros of Africa, and the Rhinoceros of Bruce.

The Indian Rhinoceros attains the height of five to six feet, and the length of seven to nine feet. He confines his wanderings in the main to the Trans-Gangetic peninsula. He has but one horn, and some dim tradition of this animal may probably have suggested the long popular fable of the mysterious Unicorn. His skin, of a dusky brown, is so singularly thick that it would have rendered all movement impossible on the part of the quadruped, if Nature had not disposed it in deep folds corresponding to the principal articulations. Thus he seems to the eye caparisoned in a body-armour of thick leather, formed in several pieces; and in truth his impervious hide constitutes a cuirass against which even musket-balls strike innocuously. Hence he dreads not the attacks of any of the Carnivora.

The unarmed Rhinoceros, who inhabits the islands of the Ganges, has but one rudimentary horn.

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IT is of their own free choice, to shelter themselves from the burning arrows of the sun, to enjoy the dense shadows and delicious coolness of the great trees, and, without doubt, to avoid the attacks of men, that the elephant and the rhinoceros are denizens of the forest. But a certain number of Mammals Nature seems to have specially designed to people the forests, and for whom their general organization, and, above all, the structure of their locomotive organs, appear to have left the selection of no other abode. Such are, in the first place, the genera, so numerous and so diverse, which compose the great order of Quadrumana (“four-handed”), indistinctly comprehended, in popular phraseology, under the denomination of Apes; such, too, are the curious arboreal animals called Sloths; and such, finally, in the order Rodentia, are the Squirrels.

In occupying ourselves, primarily, with the Apes, we do but conform to the scientific classifications, all of which place these Mammals immediately next to Man in the zoological series.

Linné originally proposed to designate, under the name of Primates—that is, the first, or chief of animals—Man, in the first place; next, the Apes; then the Galeopitheci (or Lemurs); and, finally, the Cheiroptera (or Bats). This order of Primates, established by the great Swedish naturalist, has been admitted by the majority of contemporary authors, who, however, have separated the Cheiroptera from it. Many have also separated Man, and, as I think, have more correctly placed him as a distinct genus in the order Bimana (or two-handed).

Those writers who are so much addicted to tracing analogies between Man and the Ape, should explain how and why it is the latter attains his greatest development precisely in those regions where Man’s intellect is dwarfed, “cribbed, cabined, and confined.”

To the ancient continent especially belong the great apes without tail, or with very short and rudimentary tail—Anthropomorphes, Baboons, Macaucos, and the Cynocephali.

Apes, as well as the other Primates, are all inhabitants of tropical countries. They do not exist in Europe, in Upper Asia, or in North America.

A single genus seems able to adapt itself to the climate and conditions of the Temperate Zone, and still reigns in the Mediterranean region—in Africa, to the north of the Atlas; in Spain, on the rock and in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar—this is the genus Baboon (the Pithecus of the classical writers), included in the family Macaucos. It differs from other genera of the same family in being tailless. This organ is rudimentary in some species of Macaucos, properly so called—as in the Red-faced Macauco of Japan; in others, its length never exceeds that of the animal’s body. It is the same with the genus Mangabey. Among the Cynocephali, the tail is usually short. These apes are remarkable, as their name indicates, for their prominent muzzle, which resembles that of a dog; and, moreover, for the naked callosities, more or less extensive and of a bluish or vivid red colour, which exist on the upper part of their thighs, immediately beneath the tail.

In the time of Desfontaines baboons were so common in the forests of the Atlas, that in the environs of Stora the trees were frequently covered with them. “They feed,” says that author, “on pine apples, sweet nuts, Indian figs, melons, water-melons, and the vegetables which they pilfer from the gardens of the Arabs, whatever cares the latter may exercise to keep these ill-doing animals at a distance. While engaged in their thieving operations, two or three mount to the top of the tallest trees and loftiest rocks to keep watch, and when they perceive any person approaching, or hear any noise, they give a cry of alarm; whereupon the whole troop immediately take flight, carrying with them all they have been able to seize.” Despite of these predatory habits, the baboons at Gibraltar have been fortunate enough to find powerful protectors in the officers of the British garrison, without whom they would have been destroyed. A prohibition against hunting them exists throughout the territory under British rule.

Among the Monkeys of the Old Continent a prominent place should be given to the Proboscis Monkey (Nasalis larvatus), who is endowed—I may not say, ornamented—with a nose of the most grotesque character and formidable dimensions. This species measures two feet from the tip of the nose to the tail, which is longer than the body. His colour is a dark chestnut, but the face is marked with blue and red. He belongs to Borneo and Cochin-China, where he assembles in large troops, and feeds wholly on fruit.

To Cochin-China also belongs the Douc, a very large species, remarkable for their coat of many colours. Back, belly, and sides are of a yellowish-gray; feet black; lower part of the arms and tail, white; a collar of brownish-purple encircles the neck; long yellowish hairs fringe the sides of the face, which is rather flat and of a yellowish bay hue. He measures, when standing upright, three feet and a half to four feet.

The Derrias (Cynocephalus hamadryas), a native of the mountains of Arabia and Abyssinia, measures upwards of four feet when standing erect, and about two feet and a half in a sitting posture. The hair of the head and neck gathers in a long mane, which falls back over the shoulders; the broad whiskers incline backwards so as to cover the ears. The long face is of a dirty flesh-colour; long, shaggy, brownish hair covers the head, neck, shoulders, and all the fore-part of the body. The tail terminates in a long tuft of brown hair.

Equal in size to, but much stronger than, an English mastiff is the Chacma, or Pig-faced Baboon (Cynocephalus porcarius), of the Cape of Good Hope, where he inhabits the mountains, and makes frequent forays in the gardens and plantations around Cape Town. His yells and screams make night hideous. He wears a sober livery of an uniform dark brown colour, with long shaggy mane-like hair about his neck and shoulders. His skull is contracted and flattened, his muzzle extremely prolonged, and the cheeks of both sexes are ornamented with small grayish whiskers.

We must now direct our attention to the Anthropomorphes, or Apes with a semi-human form, which, of all the Quadrumana, approach nearest to man in form, stature, internal and external conformation, manners, instinct, and development of intelligence. They have no tail, and the Gibbons (Pithecus lar), which occupy the lowest rank among them, possess only the rudiments of ischiatic callosities. Nor are they provided with those dilatable pouches worn by a great number of other Primates on each side of the mouth, and named by French naturalists abajoues. Their position, when they move along the ground, is bent rather than erect, and they assist themselves by their extraordinarily long anterior arms. These arms, in fact, are much longer than their legs; their thumbs, at the four extremities, are opposed to the other fingers; the palm of their hands and the sole of their feet are naked, as well as their face. The sternum is large and flat; the clavicles are short and well articulated.

In the age of Linné, the apes of which we speak were but imperfectly known. Even now-a-days our information upon the subjects of their intelligence, manners, and habits, is defective and fragmentary. The individuals whom we have retained in captivity have died while very young, and it is impossible to say whether their early mildness and intelligence would have proved as transitory in them as in the Macaucos and the Cynocephali, who, as they advance in years, display the most brutal instincts. In their adult state, the Anthropomorphic Apes have not been really studied. Travellers have penetrated into their forests only to attack them with rifle-balls, and have told us but little of the manner in which they comport themselves. As for the details collected from natives inhabiting their vicinity, they are so contradictory, and mixed up with so much which is fabulous, that it is impossible to draw any conclusions from them in reference to the habits of these animals.

Four distinct genera of the Anthropomorphic Apes are now recognized by naturalists: two belonging to Southern Asia, or rather the great Indian Archipelago—viz., the Orang and the Gibbon; two to Tropical Africa—viz., the Chimpanzee and the Gorilla. I shall describe their peculiarities in my next chapter.

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The Orang-Outang has a large protuberant belly, a flat nose, small ears, projecting muzzle, long, thin, and very extensible lips. In youth the forehead projects; but as the creature grows older, it becomes depressed at the same time that the face lengthens; the face assumes a more decided bestial type; and the intelligence, lively and quick at first, declines into obtuseness and atrophy. The head inclines forward; the neck is short, thick, and seemingly afflicted with gôitre, which is due to the presence of the pouch called thyroïdian. This pouch, placed above the sternum, extends beneath the arm-holes, and communicates with the larynx. When expanded, it is capable of receiving a great quantity of air, which, being afterwards expelled very slowly, and passing anew through the vocal organ, produces a dull and prolonged murmur.

The Orang-Outang is timid and inoffensive; he rarely engages in a combat with his enemies. At times, however, when driven to extremities, he resorts to his great muscular strength in self-defence, and if he can succeed in grappling with his antagonist, he rends him to pieces with his tenacious hands; never using his teeth, although his jaws are very powerful, and armed with canine teeth capable of inflicting dangerous wounds. In general, when he feels himself sorely stricken, he hurriedly climbs to the summit of the loftiest tree within his reach, and if he finds himself still pursued, he passes on to another. Meanwhile he utters the most dolorous cries, and vents his impotent rage upon the tree which serves him for a refuge. One after another he breaks the greatest branches; but they immediately escape from his grasp, and fall to the ground. It is this circumstance which has originated the assertions of many travellers, that the Orang defends himself by hurling boughs at his aggressors, and even by striking them heavy blows with a stick. The truth is, that far from protracting his defence by the expedient his fury prompts him to adopt, he does but expose himself the more fully to the projectiles directed at him. The stripped tree is no longer available as a shelter. The Malay hunters, therefore, take no heed of all this fracas, but patiently wait until the Orang has exposed himself, to aim their arrows or rifle-balls with the greater certainty.

The habitat of the Gibbons (Hylobates) is more extensive in range than that of the Orangs. They are found not only in Sumatra, in Borneo, in the Celebes and Philippine Islands, but in considerable portions of the two peninsulas within and beyond the Ganges. In size they are inferior to the Anthropomorphes, their stature not exceeding three feet. Their head is small and rounded, their muzzle does but slightly project, and their face wears a pleasanter expression than that of the great apes of the same group. A sort of thick black or very dark fur, with occasionally patches of white, enwraps their entire body. They have arms and hands of extraordinary length, but a slightly developed belly. They live upon the forest-trees, which they traverse without ever descending to the ground, exhibiting a marvellous agility and suppleness. They are completely frugivorous; their manners are gentle; their intelligence they retain, and even develop, after they have attained maturity. Although they should be captured after they have passed their youth, they easily become domesticated, and display a loyal affection towards their masters. Unfortunately the climate of Europe, and perhaps, in particular, the atmosphere of menageries, proves fatal to them, and those individuals placed in the Zoological Gardens of London and Paris succumb, after a brief residence, to dysentery or pulmonary disease.

The Gibbon-Lar (Hylobates or Pythecus Lar) is smaller than the preceding. His skin is of a blackish-brown, with the four extremities and the framing of the face white. He ranges over the peninsula of Malacca, and, according to some travellers, the kingdom of Siam.

The Hylobates cinereus is of an uniform cindery-gray. He inhabits the Sunda Islands, and principally Java, and numerous individuals of his species have been imported into Europe. His disposition is gentle and affectionate; he quickly familiarizes himself with the persons who approach him.

The genus Chimpanzee (Pithecus troglodytes) is by some later naturalists preferred to that foremost place among the Quadrumana in which Cuvier had installed the orang-outang. He certainly approaches the nearest—though longo intervallo—to man, of all his race. He was long confounded with other Anthropomorphous genera, under the vague name of “Man of the Woods” (Homo sylvestris). It would appear to have been the Chimpanzee that Buffon had in his “mind’s eye” when describing his Jocko; although that ideal variety of shaggy men, with flat, oval visage, long legs, tall and erect figure, which stands before us in the great naturalist’s pages, bears but little resemblance to the animal we have seen in the Zoological Gardens, or the more faithful and judicious portrait drawn by modern travellers. But the name of Jocko is evidently a corruption of that of Enge-eko, which the negroes of the Gaboon bestow upon the Chimpanzee, just as the latter appellation is an imperfect reproduction of that of Quimpezé, in use among the negroes of Angola.

The highest stature to which the Chimpanzee can attain is about four and a half feet; but as he never stands absolutely erect, he appears much shorter. His small eyes, deep sunken in their orbits, are of a dark hazel colour. The cranium, even in young specimens, is depressed, and presents, in advance of a low receding forehead, a projecting superciliary ridge. As the animal advances in years, his muzzle lengthens, his jaws develop, his skull grows more depressed; at the same time his intelligence gradually disappears, his manners become fiercer, and his disposition less tractable; in a word, the instincts of the brute regain their supremacy. Such, at least, is the statement of the best accredited authorities; as for the individuals imported into Europe, they invariably die at too early an age for any one to study their habits and character in maturity.

The Chimpanzees live, it is said, in troops in the forests, or at least they congregate for the purpose of repelling the attacks made upon them by the carnaria, and to drive from their domains such other animals as may attempt to install themselves therein to their disadvantage. Their weapons are ready to their hand—stones and the branches of trees. Their diet is essentially a frugivorous one; yet they will occasionally indulge in a lizard or two, or any other reptile. Like the orangs, they construct rude beds or couches, of interwoven boughs stripped of their greenery. The negroes of Guinea, scarcely much higher in the scale of intelligence than themselves, look upon them as a nation, and believe that if these Men of the Woods do not speak, it is because they fear to be condemned to work or carried off into slavery, and not from incapacity.