NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



tore things down, broke and smashed the household 

 goods, and, as baboons will do, made a very dis- 

 gusting mess about the place. In the end one of 

 them must have jumped against the window and 

 smashed the glass, and the whole lot got out and 

 returned to the krantzes. 



The diet of the baboon is, as a general rule, poor 

 and by no means too plentiful. In fact, in some of 

 the dry stony districts inhabited by troops of these 

 animals, it is a matter for surprise how they are able 

 to procure sufficient for their needs. The diet 

 consists of bulbs and roots which they scrape up 

 out of the ground with their strong finger-nails. 

 This is supplemented by sweet bark, the white pith 

 of aloe stems, tender shoots, buds, flowers, wild 

 fruits, berries, seeds, and the gum which oozes from 

 acacia trees. In the parts where the prickly pear 

 abounds, the fruit forms a welcome addition to the 

 baboons' diet. A variety of insect life is also de- 

 voured, such as scorpions, spiders, millipedes, 

 beetles, centipedes, &c., which are usually found 

 under loose stones lying on the hillsides. It is a 

 common sight to see a troop of baboons busily 

 turning over the stones in search of the various 

 insects which find shelter beneath. There is an 

 amusing story of a coleopterist, commonly mis- 

 called a '' bug-hunter," who had recently arrived 

 in the country. Being informed that a certain 

 stony hillside was a good hunting-ground for beetles, 

 he forthwith set out. On arrival at the place, eager 



36 



