NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



with various kinds of poison, but with comparatively 

 little success, for the reason that these animals, and 

 in fact all the monkey tribe, have acute senses of 

 taste and smell ; and being of a highly suspicious 

 nature, they refuse to touch even their favourite 

 foods should they detect anything strange in the 

 taste or smell of them. 



A friend who wished to destroy an old captive 

 baboon which had become morose and vicious, tried 

 several well-known poisons, one of which was a 

 tasteless preparation of morphia ; yet the baboon, 

 although famishing with hunger, refused them one 

 and all, in spite of the poison having been cunningly 

 introduced into choice and dainty ripe fruits. 



A farmer succeeded in poisoning several of a troop 

 of baboons in a rather curious and ingenious way. 



Finding they resorted to a certain belt of mimosa 

 trees to feed on the gum which oozed from the 

 branches and trunks, he paid a visit to the spot, and, 

 with a penknife, made slits in the soft gum and 

 introduced wax pellets containing strychnine, care- 

 fully closing up the cuts and singeing them to de- 

 stroy the smell left by his fingers. However, the 

 baboons became suspicious after several of their 

 number had died in convulsions, and others fell 

 sick after having eaten freely of the gum ; and, 

 connecting it with the death and sickness of their 

 comrades, they never again returned to that locality. 



Tame baboons are sometimes used by travellers 

 in the drier districts of South Africa to locate edible 



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