82 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



seldom or never using their powerful jaws and teeth. 

 It is a fact that the baboons are far cleaner in their 

 habits than most people would imagine, shifting 

 their sleeping quarters from cave to cave as they 

 become foul or too much infested with vermin. Of 

 late years, in the mountains bordering on the karroo, 

 the baboons have developed a new and most trouble- 

 some propensity. Some years back, some one 

 baboon having, by chance, come across the dead 

 body of a milch goat, discovered and extracted the 

 milk-bag (they are passionately fond of milk), and, 

 like Eve, " saw that it was good." His discovery 

 must have been quickly imparted to his fellows, 

 for the Karroo farmers began to find their milch 

 goats ripped up and slaughtered by these brutes 

 solely for the sweet and luscious milk. This 

 horrible propensity has grown to alarming proportions 

 on some farms, and hundreds of goats have been 

 destroyed in a season in this way. The baboons, 

 too, becoming accustomed to butchering, presently 

 turned their attention to the flesh, and will now 

 destroy kids, and, if they can manage it, goats, for 

 their flesh alone.* In these localities, a war of 

 revenge has been waged by the enraged farmers, 

 not altogether successfully, for the cunning simian 

 murderers are hard of utter extermination. The 

 Hottentots are full of amusing tales about the 

 baboon, which occupies a large space in their folk- 

 lore. If you want a funny story, you may always 



* There is a curious similarity in this modern development between these 

 murderous baboons and the sheep-killing parrot of New Zealand. In either 

 case the evolution has been co-incident with the increase of the flocks. The 

 methods are different — the result is the same. The baboon attacks the 

 goat's milk-bag, the parrot the sheep's kidney — through the back. Death is 

 effected in either case. 



