WITH FLASH-LIGHT AND RIFLE 



them. Only one, a female "mbega," reached the Ber- 

 lin zoological gardens, where she died three days after 

 her arrival. Captured "mbegas" very rarely become 

 familiar with their keepers. They are retiring, and ap- 

 parently suffer from an irrepressible longing for their 

 native forests. There is nothing apelike and comical 

 in their behavior, they are quiet, dignified, and grave, 

 qualities which harmonize with the solemn character 

 of their mountain-forest home. 



How differently the baboons behave in freedom and 

 in captivity. They are very gregarious, assembling in 

 large troops, and inhabit, not, as one might suppose, 

 the forest-clad regions, but the plain and rocky parts 

 of the country. 



The yellow baboon {Papio iheanus) prefers the plam. 

 The coast tribes call it "njani," the Masai "ol'dolal," 

 and the Ndorobbo "kireije." It climbs the trees only 

 in the night-time, to sleep there in comparative safety 

 from beasts of prey. During the day the large herds 

 roam over the plain in search of food, which consists 

 of grass, leaves, wild fruits, seeds, all kinds of insects, 

 birds' eggs, and young birds — in short, the baboon seems 

 to be omnivorous. It may also kill and eat very young 

 pygmy antelopes, but the story that it attacks full- 

 grown animals, I do not credit. The large herds, often 

 numbering hundreds of baboons, are conducted and 

 guarded by the elders, who are exceedingly, watchful 

 against danger, particularly against their arch-enemy 



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