152 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



large enough to admit the open hand of the animal. 

 The first party that, comes along are not a great while 

 before they discover the hidden treasure ; some of the 

 smaller ones are probably wrangling round it, when a big 

 male stalks up, drives them away, and begins to examine 

 the gourd on his own account. After turning it round 

 and round, and inspecting it from all sides, he at last 

 squeezes his hand into the hole, and grasps the prize. 

 Presently, to his annoyance, he finds that, though he 

 could put his hand in with a struggle, it is quite im- 

 possible to withdraw it, clenched, and holding the mealies. 

 He gets angry and struggles furiously, but ineffectually, 

 until the watchers arrive on the scene and, encumbered 

 as he is, make him an easy prisoner. It never once 

 seems to occur to him to open his hand and let the mealies 

 go, but, growling and roaring with rage and fear, he 

 grips them until the very last. 



A young male, in captivity for a long time at Sabi 

 Bridge, often showed intelligence almost human. For 

 instance, he was accustomed to roost at night in a tree 

 situated at about thirty paces from the native cook- 

 house, wherein he liked to sit, sharing the evening meal 

 of the " boys," until just after sundown, when he would 

 retire to his perch. Sometimes the food would be a 

 little late, and on going out " Jack " would find himself 

 benighted. Nothing would then induce him to cross, 

 alone, the open space separating hut and tree, and he 

 would sit screaming until some one lifted him up and 

 carried him across the danger zone. Arrived at the foot 

 of the tree, he would make all haste to the shelter of the 

 branches, evidently deeming the ground no .place for 

 him at that hour. 



One day a very small captive of his own species was 

 brought in, and the two were placed on the ground facing 



