The day he caught the monkey he was well pleased,- 

 and may possibly have told the truth. Baboons and] 

 monkeys, he said, can count just like men, but they can 

 only count two ! If one man goes into a mealie field 

 and waits for them with a gun, their sentry will see 

 him, and he may wait for ever ; if two go and one 

 remains, it is useless, for they realise that only one has 

 come out where two went in ; but if three go in, one 

 may remain behind to lie in wait for them, for the 

 monkeys, seeing more than one return, will invade 

 the mealie field as soon as the two are safely out of 

 the way. That was only Jantje's explanation of the 

 well-known fact that monkeys and baboons know the 

 difference between one and more than one. 



But, as Jantje explained, their cleverness helped him 

 to catch them. He went alone and came away alone, 

 leaving his trap behind, knowing that they were watch- 

 ing his every movement, but knowing also that their 

 intense curiosity would draw them to it the moment 

 it seemed safe. The trap he used was an old calabash 

 or gourd with a round hole in it about an inch in 

 diameter ; and a few pumpkin seeds and mealies and 

 a hard crust of bread, just small enough to get into 

 the calabash, formed the bait. 



After fastening the gourd by a cord to a small 

 stump, he left it lying on its side on the ground where 

 he had been sitting. A few crumbs and seeds were 

 dropped near it and the rest placed in the gourd, with 

 one or two showing in the mouth. Then he walked 

 off on the side where he would be longest in view, 

 and when well out of sight sped round in a circuit 



361 



