FEROCITY OF CHACMA 



marauding band of apes is guarded by a few old males 

 who form a rear guard. The chacma prefers rocky and 

 stony localities, and is mainly a ground dweller ; but 

 it can climb trees with skill. When running along this 

 and all species of the lower apes tread on the palms of 

 their hands, in this differing from the anthropoid apes 

 who double up their hands, and progress upon the 

 knuckles. The chacma can go at a good pace when 

 put to it ; but it is a ferocious beast, and will stand 

 up to a fight if attacked. Its chief enemy, who is the 

 leopard, is sometimes severely mauled by an old fellow 

 whose canine teeth and strength of muscle are hardly 

 inferior to those of the aggressor. Whether the chacma 

 throws stones or not, it is plain that many baboons do, 

 and indeed in this they resemble some other monkeys 

 who pelt the stranger with the local equivalent of the 

 ' 'arf a brick " of Aryan civilization. Ferocious though 

 the elderly baboon may be, the young are more engaging 

 in their disposition. The traveller le Vaillant indeed 

 speaks well of the race. A pet chacma was of con- 

 siderable use to him as a taster, such as were employed 

 by mediaeval monarchs for their protection. When a 

 dubious, but good-looking root was discovered, the 

 chacma was encouraged to bite it ; and if it refused 

 with " every symptom of disgust," the root was not 

 entered on the menu. The chacma is most omnivorous ; 

 it eats anything and everything, from the leaves of the 

 prickly pear (especially, it is stated, the most prickly 

 leaves !) up to insects. It will descend in its hordes upon 

 orchards and fields, and has lately caught the trick, 

 like the kea in New Zealand, of tearing open young 

 lambs for the sake of the curdled milk in their stomachs. 

 At least the baboon prefers the milk while the kea is 

 more thorough and less specialized in his appetites. 



This baboon is diurnal, retiring to rest at night in 

 the most respectable middle-class fashion, its slumbers 



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