CHAPTER VIII.

THE DOG-SHAPED MONKEYS (_continued_)--THE BABOONS.

Early Accounts of the Baboon--Origin of the Name--Held as Sacred by the Egyptians--Used as the Emblem of Thoth--Brought into Europe in the Middle Ages--Their Literature--General Description of the Family--Structural Peculiarities--Brain--Skull--Geographical Distribution--THE SACRED BABOON--Found in Great numbers in Abyssinia--Formidable Antagonists--Size and Colour of the Male and Female--Anecdotes--Propensity for Spirituous Liquors and Thieving--THE GELADA BABOON--THE PIG-TAILED BABOON--Usually called Chacma--Description of it--Its Ferocity in Captivity--Le Vaillant’s Monkey--THE SPHINX BABOON--Its Dexterity of Aim--THE ANUBIS BABOON--Its Locality and Food--Method of Running--THE COMMON BABOON--Often found in Captivity--Anecdotes--Anatomical Peculiarities 129