232 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



on a bed of lichens. Although I had used a solid 

 bullet his beautiful, hairy cloak was badly torn, 

 and I decided that in future I should have to 

 employ a shot-gun. As the monkey lay there 

 in the dim light of the mountain woods I again 

 felt one of those pangs of pity and remorse that 

 sooner or later, I suppose, come to most people 

 who, as a French newspaper has so well put it, 

 say to one another : " Isn't it a lovely morning ! 

 Let's go and kill something ! " 



A few words more about the colobus before 

 I take you to the top of Kijabe mountain. 



The colobus is one of the Guereza family, of 

 which about a dozen species are spread across 

 Equatorial Africa. The white-tailed variety is 

 the best known and most handsome. A robe 

 of long, pure white and silky hair falls upon either 

 side of his body, and contrasts with the coal- 

 black mantle of the head and face. To see 

 these extraordinarily beautiful little creatures 

 peering down on you from the top of some immense 

 cedar tree, their little faces peeping through the 

 highest forks, is to witness one of the most 

 quaintly picturesque sights of animal life in 

 Africa. When covered by the high forks of 

 the trees it is of course very difficult to hit these 

 monkeys, for the shot as likely as not merely 

 will spatter on boughs and solid trunks. Even 

 if your shots tell there is a big chance of the little 

 beast dying in his arboreal fortress, and the 

 coveted spoils not coming into the hands of the 

 hunters. 



That was what we learned when at last we 

 halted breathless on the mountain top, and a few 

 minutes later found ourselves amongst a troop 

 of colobus. We had plunged through a great 

 floral sea. Creepers tripped us up, stinging 



