BABOONS, 21

the trees before they could oblige him to combat his enemies
on the ground; and when finally overpowered by numbers,
and nearly in a dying state, he seized a spear, which would
have withstood the strength of the stoutest man, and broke
it like a reed. It was said by those who aided in his death,
that the human-like expression of his countenance, and his
piteous manner of placing his hands over his wounds, dis-
tressed their feelings so much, as to make them question the
nature of the act they were committing.”

Baboons comprise a large and fierce tribe, very common
in parts both of Asia and Africa. They are less like man in
conformation, and far more disgusting in habits and cruel
in disposition, than the other tribes; it is said that they can
never be completely tamed, and as they advance in years
they increase in fierceness and brutality. In their native
haunts they live on berries, roots, eggs, and insects, but
often do much mischief in the more cultivated districts, by
depredations on the fruit and grain of gardens and fields,
congregating in troops for these predatory excursions. It
is said that “a troop of them will sometimes form a long
chain, extending from the vicinity of their ordinary habita-
tion, to that of the garden or field they are engaged in
plundering, and that the produce of their theft is pitched