NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



was slightly dented. Taking it up, the baboon 

 carefully picked out the broken bits of shell, and 

 proceeded to suck out the contents. 



Another evil habit which some of the baboons 

 have acquired, is to capture young lambs and kids, 

 which they kill and disembowel to get at the stomach, 

 which is torn open for the sake of the curdled milk 

 it usually contains, and of which the baboons are 

 very fond. How they learned there was milk in the 

 stomachs of lambs, and kids, we can but conjecture. 

 Needless to say, these habits have considerably in- 

 creased the enmity of the farmers against them. 



In spite of the most determined efforts of man 

 to destroy the baboons, they still exist in consider- 

 able numbers. Many troops of them have altered 

 their habits, and have sought sanctuary in the 

 recesses of the dense thorny forests, wooded kloofs, 

 and valleys, where they are safe from pursuit by 

 man. From these retreats they issue forth, but 

 are careful never to venture far from the edge of 

 their leafy cover. 



In consequence of this comparative immunity 

 from their arch-enemy Man, they multiply unduly, 

 and the balance of Nature is upset, for food be- 

 comes increasingly scarce. Driven to desperation by 

 hunger, they lose their dread of their human foe in 

 their dire necessity, and boldly issue forth and raid 

 his fields, with the inevitable result that sooner or 

 later their numbers are considerably reduced by the 

 angry farmers. 



40 



