33 2 APES, MONKEYS, AND LEMURS 



resembles the African mangabey monkeys already described. Like the other 

 members of this group of baboons, the chactna carries its tail at first curved some- 

 what upward, and then hanging straight down. 



The chacma, like its cousin the Arabian baboon, is essentially a dweller in 

 mountainous districts, and is found in all the mountain ranges of the Cape district, 

 such as the Snieuberg and the Drachenfels. How far it extends to the northward 

 we have not been able to ascertain, since, as we have already had occasion to 

 mention, travelers and sportsmen are, as a rule, very reticent on the subject of 

 monkeys and their kindred. 



The habits of this species appear to be very similar to those of its 

 North African cousin, since we read that it goes in large troops, the 

 members of which scramble up the rocks when their territories are invaded, and, 

 having gained a safe refuge, seat themselves gravely down to gaze upon the 

 strangers. In climbing up the rocky cliffs they are often much assisted by the 

 tendrils of the creeping plants with which so many of the South African crags are 

 clothed. Writing of the kind of scenery among which these animals dwell, the 

 great African hunter, Gordon Cumming, says: " I continued my march through a 

 glorious country* of hill and dale, throughout which water was abundant. Beauti- 

 fully wooded hills and mountains stretched away on every side ; some of the moun- 

 tains were particularly grand and majestic, their summits being surrounded by 

 steep precipices and abrupt parapets of rock, the abodes of whole colonies of black- 

 faced baboons, which, astonished to behold such novel intruders upon their 

 domains, leisurely descended the craggy mountain sides for a nearer inspection 

 of our caravan." It is said that there are instances where these animals have 

 rolled down stones from the heights on a passing caravan, although there is 

 no proof that such missiles were not merely fragments of rock accidentally 

 detached. 



The late Professor Moseley, who fell in with chacmas when at the Cape, during 

 the Challenger expedition, states that they "live especially about the sea cliffs 

 and steep slopes leading down from there to the sea ; but they are to be met 

 with also on the open moorland above. They live in droves or clans of thirty, 

 forty, or even up to seventy ; and there were three such bodies of them in the 

 country immediately about Simon's Bay, and in the tract stretching down to Cape 

 Point. When on the feed, two or three keep watch, and one usually hears them 

 before one sees them. The warning cry is like the German hock, much prolonged. 

 As soon as they see one, three or four of them mount on the scattered rocks so as to 

 have a clear view over the bushes and heaths, and watch every movement of the 

 enemy, so that it is extremely difficult to get within shot of them. If one stands 

 still, or does not go any nearer, merely passing by, they employ themselves, as 

 they sit unconcernedly, in scratching in the usual monkey fashion, but still never 

 losing sight of their object of suspicion. 



"Once I came across a troop suddenly, on looking over a low cliff. They 

 dashed off at a tremendous pace, galloping on all fours, till far out of shot, when 

 they climbed up on a rocky eminence, and calmly sat down to watch me. The 

 baboons live on roots, which they dig up, and on fruits, and they turn over the 



