02 THE UR3INE BABOON"* 



not taken, they will cunningly steal up behind, 

 snatch away whatever they can lay hold of, then 

 runnino- to a Uttle distance, will turn round, seat 

 themselves on their posteriors, and with the most 

 arch grimaces imaginable, devour it before the man's 

 face. They frequently hold out it in their paws, as 

 if to offer it back again, and then use such ridicu- 

 lous gestures, that, although the poor fellow loses 

 his dinner, he seldom can refrain from laughing*. 

 They are indeed so numerous among the moun- 

 tains, as, at times, to render it exceedingly dan- 

 gerous for travellers to pass them. They sit undis- 

 mayed on the lops of the rocks, and not only roll, 

 but even throw from thence stones of immense 

 size. A gun, in these cases, is generally of indis- 

 pensible use, in driving them to such a distance 

 that the stones they throw may do no material in- 

 jury. In their flight, even with their cubs on their 

 backs, they often make most astonishing leaps, up 

 perpendicular rocks. And their agility is so great 

 i.5 to render them very difficult to be killed, even 

 with fire-arms -jf. 



Lade has very accurately described their man- 

 ners. " We traversed a great mountain in the 

 neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, and 

 amused ourselves with hunting large Apes, which 

 arc very numerous in that place. — I can neither de- 

 scribe all the arts practised by these animals, nor 

 the nimbleness and impudence with which they re- 



• KolIicH, ii. 120. t Tlnmbcrg, i. 284. 



