THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 19 



shot them with their poisoned arrows. So a great feud 

 arose, and the Bushmen were driven off to the far-distant 

 mountains. 



A GREAT CALAMITY 



Now, we pride ourselves on our cunning and our clever- 

 ness in keeping clear of our enemies. But alas ! we cannot 

 reason out anything. From our rocky homes we saw things 

 which were dear to our hearts growing in the Dutchmen's 

 gardens. Fruit, the like of which we had never before seen. 

 Great pumpkins, melons, sweet vegetables, and corn. How 

 we loved that corn, and what dire calamity it brought on 

 us. We were the Adams and Eves of South Africa, and 

 God had given us all we needed, but we coveted what was 

 forbidden. We robbed the Dutchmen's fields, and their 

 orchards and vegetable gardens. Terrible was the retribu- 

 tion. These farmers had things which you call guns. One 

 would just put a gun to his shoulder, there would be a puff 

 of smoke, and something hard would strike like fire into our 

 bodies. The old sages of our tribe counselled us to go away 

 and seek new homes in the wilderness where we should be 

 free from temptation, but our people had got a great liking 

 for those new kinds of foods, which could be had so easily, 

 so they wouldn't listen to the advice of their wise men. 

 We learned to be careful, and posted double sentries. 

 Hundreds of times I have robbed the farmers' mealie fields. 

 Only once was I wounded. It was my own fault. The 

 sentry sounded the alarm, and I made off vdth the others. 

 I had an armful of lovely sweet mealie cobs, which I didn't 

 want to throw away. I hobbled off on three legs, and 

 lagged behind the others. Suddenly a man galloped up 

 on a horse and shot at me with his gun. Sharp stings of 

 pain shot through me. I dropped the mealie cobs, and 

 rushed off as fast as I could. When I got safely home up 



