150 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



pelled to muster and to slaughter all the baboons 

 they can find, just as the farmers of Devon- 

 shire organise shooting parties in the spring 

 to slaughter the woodpigeons that eat their 

 young clover. An old male baboon is a 

 savage customer absolutely devoid of fear. 

 One of these animals has been known to enter 

 a lonely farm building in broad daylight, and 

 when a fierce mastiff was sent to tackle the 

 intruder, it was the dog that got the worst 

 of the encounter. No one will blame the 

 farmer for destroying these greedy and danger- 

 ous neighbours of theirs, but even though not 

 sacred as in India, monkeys should never be 

 shot for sport. They are, above the majority 

 of small animals, interesting to watch, and there 

 is, or should be, something sympathetic about 

 a monkey, whether in its native tree-tops or on 

 a hand-organ. Moreover, these alert and 

 nervous little creatures are at times of service to 

 the sportsman, for, ever on the look out for 

 danger, they are quick to notice the least move- 

 ment of a leopard or other dangerous animal in 

 the undergrowth, and their frightened chatter 

 frequently betrays the whereabouts of big game 

 that might otherwise escape notice. 



THE LION AND LEOPARD 



The grandest animal in all Africa, indeed 

 the acknowledged king of beasts, is the lion. 



