NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



against these cunning, secretive, highly intelligent, 

 and agile folk. 



On one occasion a troop of Vervets were almost 

 completely wiped out of existence. It was at Table 

 Mountain, near Pietermaritzburg, in Natal. The 

 Kafirs had been driven to desperation by a large 

 troop of monkeys which inhabited a neighbouring 

 wooded kloof. The bush was dense and thorny, 

 and the ground broken and rocky, making it 

 practically impossible for a man to penetrate it. 

 Here the monkeys had a secure retreat, from 

 which they usually issued at dawn, or on moon- 

 light nights, to raid the crops of the natives. The 

 Kafirs in the vicinity of the kloof had ceased to do 

 any planting, owing to the depredations of the mon- 

 keys. Having acquired a liking for succulent milky 

 mealies, the monkey troop took to raiding some fields 

 at a distance, to get to which they were obliged to 

 traverse some open grassy land, studded here and 

 there with thorn trees. The monkeys had begun to 

 look upon the Kafirs with contempt, more or less, for 

 they had long since realised how impotent they were 

 with their assegais and knob kerries. However, in 

 the Kafir they had a crafty foe. In the dead of 

 night about 300 Kafirs, armed with kerries, asse- 

 gais, and sticks, assembled with their dogs. The 

 mouths of the animals were tied with soft, raw-hide 

 thongs, to prevent them barking. The army was 

 divided into two portions, which took cover in dense 

 thickets on each side of the wooded kloof. When the 



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