Physical geography. By Mary Somerville ...

CHAP. XXXII. AFRICAN QITADRUPEDS. 459
tinent, live on the plains, and many of them are leaping animals,
as the Jerboa capensis. Squirrels are comparatively rare.
There are some species of the horse peculiar to South Africa; of
these the gaily-striped Zebra and the more sober-coloured Quagga
wander in troops over the plains, often in company with ostriches.
An alliance between creatures differing in nature and habits is not
easily accounted for. The two-horned rhinoceros of Africa is different from that of Asia; there are certainly three, and probably
five, species of these huge animals peculiar to the table-land. Dr.
Smith saw 150 in one day near the 24th parallel of South latitude.
The Hippopotamus is exclusively African: multitudes inhabit the
lakes and rivers in the tropical and southern parts of the continent;
those that inhabit the Nile and Senegal appear to belong to different
species. An Elephant differing in species from that of Asia is so
numerous, that 200 have been seen in a herd near lake Tchad.
They are not domesticated in Africa, and are. hunted by the natives
for their tusks. The Phacochoere, or Ethiopian hog, and a species
of Hyrax, are among the Pachydermata of this country. The
monkey is found in all the hot parts of Africa: peculiar genera are
allotted to particular districts. Except a few in Asia, the family of
Guenons is found in no part of the world but about the Cape of
Good Hope, and on or near the coasts of Loando and Guinea, where
they swarm.
The species are numerous, and vary much in size and colours;
the Cynocephalus, or dog-headed Baboon, with a face like that of a
dog, is large, ferocious, and dangerous. A species of these Baboons
inhabits Guinea, others the southern parts of the table-land, and
one is met with everywhere from Sennaar to Caffraria. A remarkable long-haired species, the Hamadryas, is found in the mountains
of Abyssinia, 8000 feet above the sea; the Mandrills, which belong
to the same genus, come from the coasts of Guinea. The magot,
or Barbary ape, is in North Africa. The African long-haired tailless apes, forming the genus Colobus, are met with in the tropical
districts on the west coast; the C. Polycomos, or king of the monkeys, so called by the natives from its beautiful fur and singular
head of bushy hair, is met with in the forests about Sierra Leone;
another of these is peculiar in the low lands of Gojam Kulla, and
Damot. The Chimpanzee, which so nearly approaches the human
form, inhabits the forests of South-Western Africa from Cape Negro
to the Gambia. Living in troops, like most apes and monkeys,
which are eminently gregarious, it is very intelligent and easily
tamed. A new species of the African Chimpanzee, equalling in
size the Orang-outang, has been recently described by Professor
Owen: it is probably the largest of the quadrumana, and by all ac.
counts the most dangerous and ferocious.
Baron Humboldt observes that all apes resembling man have an