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第7章 历史的迷雾

MONKEYS.

Ovis Aries. Linn.—Var. Guineensis.

In size the Caracal is somewhat larger than the Fox. The whole of the upper surface of his body is of a deep and uniform brown, the hairs being for the most part slightly tipped with gray; the under and inner parts are nearly white; and the chin and lower lip, and two spots, one on the inner side of and above the eye, and the other beneath its outer angle, completely so. The neck and throat are of a lighter and brighter brown than the rest of the fur. The ears, which are long and upright, taper gradually to a fine tip, which is surmounted by a pencil of long black hairs; they are black externally and whitish within. It is to the striking character afforded by these organs that the animal is indebted for his modern name of Caracal, corrupted from his Turkish appellation, which, equally with that by which he is known in Persia, signifies “black ear.” His whiskers are short, and take their origin from a series of black lines which occupy the sides of the muzzle; at some distance behind them, in front of the neck

THE LIONESS AND HER CUBS.

Simi?. Linn.

In the true Baboons the facial angle of the adult varies from 30° to 35°, and the superciliary crests are for the most part considerably elevated, as is also the ridge on the back of the head formed by the attachment of the temporal muscles, which, as well as the canine teeth, are large and powerful. The cheeks are furnished with pouches capable of much distension; and the muzzle terminates in a flattened extremity like that of the dog, on which the openings of the nostrils are situated. The tail is generally as long as, and sometimes even longer than, the body; but in several of the species it is extremely short. The callosities are frequently of large[150] size and disgustingly conspicuous. This genus is generally considered as the lowest in organization, and consequently in capacity and intelligence, of the tribe to which it belongs.

uarter of a mile before he fell. There is no chance, they add, of killing him by a single shot, unless the ball goes directly through the brain; a single hunter runs consequently no little risk in venturing to attack an animal upon whom the most dangerous wounds, if not instantaneously fatal, produce no obvious immediate effects.

The first notice of a Royal Menagerie in England places this establishment at Woodstock, where King Henry the First had a collection of lions, leopards, and other strange beasts. Three leopards were presented to Henry the Third by the Emperor Frederic the Second, himself a zoologist of no mean rank. From Woodstock[xiv] they were transferred to the Tower; and numerous orders issued in this and the succeeding reigns to the sheriffs of London and of the counties of Bedford and Buckingham to provide for the maintenance of the animals and their keepers are extant among the Records. Thus in the year 1252 the sheriffs of London were commanded to pay four pence a day for the maintenance of a white bear; and in the following year to provide a muzzle and chain to hold the said bear while fishing, or washing himself, in the river Thames. In 1255 they were directed to build a house in the Tower for an elephant which had been presented to the king by Louis king of France; and a second writ occurs in which they were ordere

The subject of the present article, which, like all the rest of the minor group of which he forms a part, is a native of India and of the Indian Islands, was a present to his Majesty, who kept him for some time, in company with another of the same species, at large in the great park at Windsor. As both, however, happened to be males, they disagreed so violently, and their quarrels at length rose to such a pitch, that in order to preserve peace it was found absolutely necessary to separate them; and our animal, as the most outrageous of the two, was dismissed the royal service, and condemned to the captivity of the Tower. Since this period he has become exceedingly tame, the cause of his former ill temper being removed, and demeans himself as quietly as the most harmless and gentlest of his tribe.