THE MONKEY TRIBES 



247 



"When any eatables were pilfered at my quarters, the fault was 

 always laid to Kees; and rarely was the accusation unfounded. For 

 a time the eggs, which a hen laid me, w^ere constantly stolen, and I 

 wished to ascertain whether I had to blame this loss also to him. For 

 this purpose I went one morning to watch him, and waited till the hen 

 announced, by her cackling, that she had laid an ^gg. Kees was sitting 

 upon my vehicle; but the moment he heard the hen's voice, he leaped 

 down, and was running to fetch the ^gg. When he saw me, he suddenly 

 stopped, and affected a careless posture, swaying himself ]:»ackwar(ls 

 upon his hind legs, and assuming a ver)- innocent look; in short, he 



PIG-TAILED BABOON OR CHACHMA 



employed all his art to deceive me with respect to his design. His 

 hy])ocritical manoeuvres only confirmed my suspicions, and, in order, 

 in my turn, to deceive him, 1 pretended not to attend to him, and turned 

 my back to the bush where the hen w'as cackling, upon which he 

 immediately sprang to the place. I ran after him, and came up to him, 

 at the moment when he had broken the egg and was swallowing it. 

 Having caught the thief in the act, I gave him a good beating upon 

 the spot, but this severe chastisement did not prevent his soon stealing 

 fresh-laid eggs again. As T was convinced that I should never be able 

 to break Kees of his natural vices, and that, unless I chained him up 



