General colour dark brown or nearly black, washed with green, especially on the forehead, the hairs being grey at the base, then ringed alternately with black and green; some of {264}them, however, lighter. Head, arms, and legs black; face, hands, feet, and ears dark blue; a white ring encircling each eye; upper eyelids white; whiskers grey. FEMALE AND YOUNG MALE.--Similar to the adult male in wanting a conspicuous mane; head rounder; nose less protuberant; cranial portion of skull less conspicuously disproportionate to the facial portion. DISTRIBUTION.--This species inhabits South Africa; and in the Cape Colony it is found in large troops. HABITS.--The Chacma, which is the largest of all the Baboons, lives, like the others, in troops, consisting of nearly a hundred individuals. They inhabit rocky places, and apparently prefer country broken into steep cliffs and rocky crags, very often in the neighbourhood of the sea. The Chacmas are very ferocious and dangerous, and in captivity, when fully adult, extremely jealous, but when young they are said to be playful and well-dispositioned. They are, moreover, very intelligent. Their sense of smell, especially for hidden water-springs in dry and arid districts, is said to be remarkable. "An animal," says Le Vaillant, in his "Travels in Africa," "that rendered me more effectual services; which, by its useful presence, suspended and even dissipated certain bitter and disagreeable reflections that occurred to my mind; which, by its simple and striking instinct, seemed to anticipate my efforts; and which comforted me in my languor--was an Ape, of that kind so common at the Cape, under the name of _Cawiars_. As it was extremely familiar, and attached itself to me in a particular manner, I made it my taster. When we found any fruit or roots unknown to my Hottentots, we never touched them until my dear Kees [the Chacma] had first tasted them; if it refused them, we {265}judged them to be either disagreeable or dangerous, and threw them away." The food of the "Chacma," an Anglicised form of the Hottentot name for this Baboon, consists of Lizards, Scorpions, Centipedes, and all manner of insects; birds' eggs, gum, and honey are particularly relished by it. When these are difficult to find, it searches for the bulbous roots of certain liliaceous plants, of which it is very fond, and which it very ingeniously disinters. As Le Vaillant has recorded of the same individual to which we have just referred: "He laid hold of the tuft of leaves with his teeth, and pressing his four paws firmly against the earth, and drawing his head backwards, the root generally followed; when this method did not succeed, he seized the tuft as before, as close to the earth as he could, then throwing his heels over his head, the root always yielded to the jerk he gave it." V. THE YELLOW BABOON. PAPIO BABUIN. _Le petit papion_, Buffon, Hist. Nat. Mamm., xiv., pl. 14 (1766).