26 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



Our dogs placed themselves cleverly, so as to cut off its retreat, and 

 we hoped that we might be able to catch it. But that was not to 

 be. Proudly and with dignity, without hurrying in the least, or 

 paying any heed to us, an old male stepped down from the security 

 of the rocks towards the hard-pressed little one, walked towards 

 the dogs without betraying the slightest fear, held them in check 

 with glances, gestures, and quite intelligible sounds, slowly climbed 

 the rock, picked up the baby-monkey, and retreated with it, before 

 we could reach the spot, and without the visibly disconcerted dogs 

 making the slightest attempt to prevent him. 



"While the patriarch of the troop performed this brave and 

 self-sacrificing deed, the other members, densely crowded on the 

 cliff, uttered sounds which I had never before heard from baboons. 

 Old and young, males and females, roared, screeched, snarled, 

 and bellowed all together, so that one would ha\'e thought they 

 were struggling with leopards or other dangerous beasts. I learned 

 later that this was the monkeys' battle-cry: it was intended ob- 

 viously to intimidate us and the dogs, possibly also to encourage 

 the brave old giant, ■\\'ho was running into such evident danger 

 before their eyes." 



A baboon called the Chacma is sometimes employed by the 

 African natives for a very curious purpose, ^^'hen on the march, 

 in seasons of drought, a whole tribe is sometimes in no little danger 

 of perishing from thirst. Knowing, however, that the chacma has 

 a marvellous faculty for discovering the presence of water, they 

 capture one of these animals, keep him without liquid for two or 

 three days, and feed him only with victuals highly seasoned with 

 salt. The poor thirsty creature is then secured by a long cord, 

 and allowed to wander where he will. 



Before long he begins to sniff about and smell the ground. 

 Then he darts off in a new direction, pulling eagerly at his rope. 

 Now he pulls up a tuft of herbage, and examines its roots ; now he 

 darts off again, more eagerly than before. Ere long, guided by his 

 wonderful instinct, he is almost sure to discover some stream or 

 spring, at which both he and his captors are able to quench their 

 thirst. 



A chacma was once kept at the Crystal Palace, in a large cage 



