1776. J anuary. the tail was nearly as lotig as the body, and was terminated by a tuft of hair, fo that in this refpedt it refembled the tail of the lion. The whole length of the animal from head to foot was five feet ; its colour was the common baboon colour, or a mixture o f yellow and brown. It is probable, that this baboon is the fimia cynocèphalus of the Syjlema Natura-, though the cauda ftoccofa of this animal is not taken notice of in the differentia fpecifica, as the tails o f fuch monkies as are kept in a ftate of confinement are ufually cut Ihort by their keepers. In the courfe of my journey I accidentally faw a young baboon or two with cropped tails, which were kept chained up, and were faid to he natives o f the Gape colonies ; but they had not a dog’s nofe and large tuiks like this, fo that they probably formed a diftincft fpecies ; neither had they fuch a dark colour as Mr. P e n n a n t deferibes in his urftnè baboon, which he fuppofes came from the Cape. The ikiii of the monkey I had ihot, had been too ill ufed by thé dogs to be worth preferving ; but curious to know, what this animal, in fo many refpedts refembling the human race, fed upon in his wild ftate, I opened his ftomach, and found it filled with a fubftance like fpinach, cut fmall and ftewed : this animal, in all probability, eats likewife certain bulbs and roots, like th eBojhies-men', though at that time at leaft, its die't did not appear to confift of a mixture of different fubftances, neither fruit nor berries o f any fort being to be found in thefe parts, at leaft not in that quantity as to deferve to he ranked among the articles on which thefe animals fubfifted. They were not in the leaft fufpedted of living upon animal food ; befides, it is well known, that many forts of mon- 5 kies, kies, when in a ftate of confinement, are fed only with vegetables, and upon fuch food are brifk and lively ; for which reafon, as one can foarcely entertain fo ill an opinion, o f M. d e B u f f o n , confidering him as a naturalift and author o f a confiderable number o f large volumes on the fubjedt o f zoology, as to fuppofe him ignorant of the circumftance of moft of the monkey tribe obferving in general a vegetable diet, or of the great refemblance between the vifcera of thefe creatures and thofe o f man ; for this reafon I fay, it is difficult to conceive, what could induce this celebrated author to affert, that animals which have only one ftomach and ihort inteftines, are obliged, like man, to feed upon flefh ? Les animaux qui - n'ont qui'un ejlomac, et les in- tejiins courts, font forcés, comme l'homme, a fe nourrir de chair. ( B u f f o n , Tom. VII. p. 36.) In fa<St, muft it not likewife inevitably follow from this pofition, that the rhinoceros and horfe, which, in like manner, have one ftomach, with inteftines very ihort in proportion, fhould be obliged, like man, to live upon flefh ? M. d e B u f f o n , indeed, in order farther to enforce his opinion, advifes us, 1. c. to compare the bowels o f animals with each other: but to fay the truth, it is, very unfortunately for him, precifely this companion, ydiich when made between man, the ape, the rliinoceros, and the horfe; or again, between the diminutive frudtivorous apv,faimiri, Tom. XV. and thofe carnivorous animals th,e couguas and lynx, Tom. IX. or the wolf, Tom. VII. militates againft him. We likewife find this learned author, who is him- felf, perhaps, fonder of animal than of vegetable food, at page 32 and the following pages of Tom. VII. urging in G g 2 the 11776. : January. V-<>vO
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