Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-05-17
WHOLE COLONY OF BABooNs.
They Are . Gregarious Specie, and Have
Sense TO Burf.

They Are Gregarlous Specie, ana Have
Sense TO Burn.
The menagerie of Central park, New
York, has just received the most inter-
esting colony of monkeys 1t has ever had.
These animals are balloons of the
Hamadryas variety and natives of Abyss
sinia, that region of Africa which is of
the greatest interest to the civilized
world at present.
The new arrivals are all young, and
not full grown They have long, gray
hair, long arms and legs, and are re-
markab1y active. They are rather thin.
Their faces are free from hair and are
pale in color. In shape the faces are
long and thin, and give the owners
decidedly thoughtful and somewhat
world-weary expression. In spite OF
their appearance, however, they take a
very keen and fresh interest in life and
all the affairs of the world, SO far as they
can observe them.
The Hamadryas is at once the most
refined and dignified Nef the monkeys in
appearance. He is without the coarse
ness of. the longer apes and without the
ludicrous characteristics of the smaller
ones. When you look at his grave and
reverend features 1t is hard TO believe
that he is forever contemplating some
mischief. At moment when his
thoughts seem to be intent on his old
home and the parents from whom he has
been torn he will lean forward and help
himself to handful of feathers from
womans Easter bonnet.
The species is found In many parts of
Africa. The members are noted for their
gregarious, garrulous and sociable hab-
It's They dwell In well organized COM
munities, which have been described by
naturalists as villages. Usually they
make their home in a rocky place.
They go forth in parties to forage and
to plumber. They are fond of many
forms of vegetables. including corn. cab
bages, melons and cocoanuts. Cu1tivat-
ed products have considerable attrac-
ton for Them as the South African farm
ers have discovered to their cost.
1t is pretty well authenticated that
when the balloons go trespassing on pri-
vate property they establish sentinels to
give warning to the plunderers of the
approach of a man. They have extra
ordinary powers of sight and hearing,
which give them a great advantage IN
this sort of work.
When they are engaged in stealing mel
ons, pumpkins or other heavy articles
they establish a chain of workers, ex-
tending from the cultivated field to some
safe retreat. Then the workers in the
field pick the pumpkins, and they are
passed along from hand to hand
These balloons have often been domes-
ticated, and they make very intelligent
members of the household, even more so
than dogs. But they must be expected to
depart occasionally from the strict path
of probity. A farmers wife left tame
Hamadryas to watch a pot In which a
chicken was boiling. The smell was too
appetizing for his honesty and he raised
the lid and picked a small piece of
chicken He continued the process until
only the skeleton of the bird remained.
Knowing there would be trouble when his
mistress returned, he slipped out into the
farmyard and procured the dead body
of crow which he had been saving for
little banquet of his own. He plucked
the feathers and with a. sigh of reluc-
lance dropped it into the pot. Then he
went on watching as if nothing odd had
happened.
These balloons in their wild state are
the noisiest of monkeys They utter
sound very much like dogs bark 1t
is plain that they are able to make
good many things understood to one an
other. They hold a sort of parliament,
in which they sit around and vociferate
and gesticulate with as much energy as
the members of the French chamber of
deputies.
A hot debate in the baboon parliament
on the question of melon culture is very
entertaining.
r2r,,oboc and ole ss--Mavher e. Watson