in company with the daughter of the superintendent, whom he appeared
to kiss and caress within view of the animal. No sooner did the
Baboon witness this familiarity, than he flew into the cage with the
greatest fury, and endeavoured to unfasten the grating of the window
which separated him from the object of his jealousy. Whilst employed
in this vain attempt, the keepers took the opportunity of fastening
the door, and securing him once more in his place of confinement. Nor
is this a solitary instance of the influence which women can exert
over the passions of these savage animals. It is said that, generally
untractable and incorrigible whilst under the management of men, it
usually happens that Baboons are most effectually tamed and led to even
more than ordinary obedience in the hands of women, whose attentions
they often repay with gratitude and affection.”
There is another side to the picture, however, and probably about as
true. “Travellers sometimes speak of the danger which women run who
reside in the vicinity of the situation which these animals inhabit,
and affirm that the negresses on the coast of Guinea are occasionally
kidnapped by the Baboons; we are even assured that certain of those
women have lived among the Baboons for many years, and that they were
prevented from escaping by being shut up in caves in the mountains,
where, however, they were plentifully fed, and in other respects
treated with great kindness! It is to be observed, however,” writes
this author, “that these accounts rest upon authority which is by no
means unexceptionable; credible and well-informed modern travellers do
not relate them, and even their older and more credulous predecessors
give them only from hearsay.”
There is a curious connection between the growth of the hair on some
parts of Monkeys and their combative habits. Thus these Baboons
have a long mane, and that of the male is, of course, the longer;
and these are perhaps the only Apes which seize each other by the
nape of the neck with their long canine teeth, the males being the
fighters. The mane, then, is clearly of advantage. On one occasion
this propensity displayed itself on one of the higher animals who was
not thus protected, in an attack by a Baboon on one of the keepers at
the Zoological Gardens, the keeper unfortunately having no clothes
on the back of his neck to act as a mane. The man was stooping down,
when the Baboon suddenly pounced on him, and bit him most severely and
dangerously in this exposed spot. During this savage and unexpected
attack, the affectionate impulses of a little Monkey were of great use
and service, for, seeing its keeper in danger, it bit the brute, and
screamed in such a manner as to distract its attention, and to allow
the man to escape.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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