portant addition made, in that
period, to our acquaintance with the man-like apes of Africa is
contained in 'A New Voyage to Guinea', by William Smith, which bears the
date 1744.

In describing the animals of Sierra Leone, p. 51, this writer says:--

"I shall next describe a strange sort of animal, called by the white men
in this country Mandrill,* but why it is so called I know not, nor did
I ever hear the name before, neither can those who call them so tell,
except it be for their near resemblance of a human creature, though
nothing at all like an Ape. ([Footnote] *"Mandrill" seems to signify
a "man-like ape," the word "Drill" or "Dril" having been anciently
employed in England to denote an Ape or Baboon. Thus in the fifth
edition of Blount's "Glossographia, or a Dictionary interpreting the
hard words of whatsoever language now used in our refined English
tongue...very useful for all such as desire to understand what they
read," published in 1681, I find, "Dril--a stone-cutter's tool wherewith
he bores little holes in marble, etc. Also a large overgrown Ape and
Baboon, so called." "Drill" is used in the same sense in Charleton's
"Onomasticon Zoicon," 1668. The singular etymology of the word given by
Buffon seems hardly a probable one.) Their bodies, when full grown,
are as big in circumference as a middle-sized man's--their legs much
shorter, and their feet larger; their arms and hands in proportion. The
head is monstrously big, and the face broad and flat, without any other
hair but the eyebrows; the nose very small, the mouth wide, and the lips
thin. The face, which is covered by a white skin, is monstrously ugly,
being all over wrinkled as with old age; the teeth broad and yellow; the
hands have no more hair than the face, but the same white skin, though
all the rest of the body is covered with long black hair, like a bear.
They never go upon all fours, like apes; but cry, when vexed or teased,
just like children...."

(FIGURE 5.--"A Mandrill". Facsimile of William Smith's figure of the
"Mandrill," 1744.)

"When I was at Sherbro, one Mr. Cummerbus, whom I shall have occasion
hereafter to mention, made me a present of one of these strange animals,
which are called by the natives Boggoe: it was a she-cub, of six months'
age, but even then larger than a Baboon. I gave it in charge to one of
the slaves, who knew how to feed and nurse it, being a very tender sort
of animal; but whenever I went off the deck the sailo