WILD LIFE ACROSS THE WORLD 



an awkward and unwieldy affair, and by the time you 

 had it on its legs and ready for action an interesting 

 incident was often finished. 



I must plead guilty to being amongst those who 

 do not like snakes. More than once I have had narrow 

 escapes from them, and my adventure with a puff- 

 adder whilst out with Clark did not tend to alter my 

 feelings towards reptiles generally. 



My boys had succeeded in catching a little monkey, 

 which very soon grew tame. On the first day of his 

 captivity he consented to take food out of my hand, 

 and by the time we started back from the Thika River 

 he had become a recognised member of the party 

 and a universal pet. He was with me when I had 

 an unpleasantly narrow escape from death. 



It came about in this way. We had camped down 

 for the midday rest, and as I was suffering from 

 the effects of a touch of the sun, I found a big shady 

 tree and lay down under it amongst grass some six 

 or eight inches long. The monkey followed me, as 

 usual, and I raised myself on my elbow in order to 

 play with him. As seems to be the case with all 

 monkeys, my hair was a great attraction for him, and 

 he did his utmost to pull and ruffle it, varying the 

 procedure by sudden tugs at my ears. 



I had not been under the tree long when Clark 

 strolled up, but being occupied with my pet, I did 

 not really pay any attention to him. He stood for 



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