AS TO BABOONS. 



235 



fhe baboon is often tamed and taught to give service to his master. A troop of 

 them will sometimes act as torch-bearers at a supper party, and you will fiml them 

 to-day in the streets of Cairo, performing tricks to the music of drums and other 

 instruments." 



"Of what species are the visitors we had this evening ? " 



"The Chacma, which I believe comes from the Hottentot word t'chackamma. 

 It is to your credit, Dick, that you made such a good fight with that fellow, for he 

 is stronger than the common English mastiff." 



"They appear to travel in families, like 

 the others you have told us about." 



"There are large numbers of them in 

 the mountains of the Cape of Good Hope. 



r- S 



'-- 



THK CHACMA. 



Those in Table Mountain often cause trouble by coming down in such well- 

 organized droves that the dogs cannot keep then*, out of the gardens." 



"What do they live on?" 



"They are fond of bulbous roots, especially the babiana, whicli is so named by 

 the Dutch colonists because the baboons are so partial to its subterranean stems. 

 You will often come upon heaps of peelings, where the animals have been sitting 

 on the rocks in the sun, stripping them off." 



"They don't seem to be very combative," said Dick, "for my customer did not 

 attack rr.e until I first pitched into him." 



"No ; it isn't likely they would have offered you any harm, if you had not first 



