intentions. Not so with the baboons. These monstrous
creatures possess an intelligence far superior to that of ordinary
quadrupeds. In fact, they are capable of a certain amount of reasoning
power, which although far inferior in degree to that of the human
species, is nevertheless of precisely the same character.

There are some people who think it savouring of profanity to make an
assertion of this kind; but there are people of very weak minds, who are
afraid to look philosophy in the face, lest it should contradict some
favourite dogma, in which they have long been accustomed to put faith.
Such people will boldly give denial to the most positive facts, that may
be observed both in the geological and zoological world; and do not
scruple to give hard names to those who have the candour to acknowledge
these facts. It is absurd to deny that monkeys are possessed of
reasoning powers; no man could stand five minutes in front of a monkeys'
cage in any of our great zoological gardens, without being convinced of
this fact.

With the baboons, the reasoning faculty is not so strongly developed as
it is in some other species of the ape tribe, as the great ourang and
the chimpanzee; but for all that, Ben Brace and I knew it was strong
enough to enable them fully to understand the situation in which we were
placed, and to know that we could not possibly escape from our
tree-prison without passing before their eyes. We knew, too, that their
passions were still stronger than their reasoning powers; that after
such offence as we had given them, by killing one of their number--
perhaps a venerated leader of the tribe--wounding another, and
administering violent "punches" to nearly every individual in the gang,
there was not the slightest probability that they would suffer us to
escape without first trying the effect of a long siege upon us.

If this was to be the case, we could have no hope of escape. The
mandrills might remain upon the ground as long as they pleased. Some
might go off to obtain food and drink, while the others watched; and
thus they could relieve one another. For that matter, drink was to be
had near at hand--at the fine spring where we had eaten our supper--
though, for any good it could do us, it might as well have been fifty
miles off. Food too the monkeys could easily procure in the woods close
by the base of the hill, or they might sustain themselves on the large
fruit of the baobab, which was their fa