v. SALLYfS POOR RELATIONS. 77 



take my books or writing materials : and here, I confess, I 

 would sometimes after my bath and frugal lunch take a 

 siesta during the heat of the afternoon of a South African 

 summer's day. One afternoon I had dozed longer than 

 usual when I was rudely awakened by a hideous yell or 

 bark. Starting up I saw at the mouth of rny rock-shelter 

 a great baboon, while near the lakelet were thirty or more 

 scampering off at the warning cry which had so rudely 

 awakened me. My friend and I stared at each other for 

 a minute or so, and then he leapt on to a ledge of rock 

 above me. Although I had no fear of the baboons, for 

 they rarely if unmolested attack man, I was uncertain 

 whether, if I issued from my shelter, they might not roll 

 a few rocks down from above, just by way of making in- 

 teresting experiments. But when after some minutes I 

 put a bold face on it and emerged from my cave, I found 

 that they had climbed far up the rocks and were eying me 

 from a respectful distance. Nor did they take much 

 further notice of me as I crossed the little ravine and as- 

 cended the rocks of the opposite side, though they woke 

 the echoes of the valley with their hoarse bark. Once 

 when a friend and I were benighted on a mountain in the 

 Hex River Valley we heard the baboons barking among 

 the rocks the long night through. We were perhaps a 

 little nervous lest they should pay us an unwelcome visit : 

 but they left us quite unmolested. 



I have sometimes seen the baboons come down to drink 

 in the evening or early morning. Their walk on the level 

 is peculiar owing to the downward slope of the back ; but 

 they are perfectly at home among the rocks. The tail is 

 carried with a peculiar bend in it, which the bushmen 

 have faithfully depicted in red ochre on the walls of South 

 African caves. Often the mothers may be seen carrying 

 their babies, and not infrequently when the mother is 



