THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 27 



OUR RELATIONS 



We Chacma baboonfolk have one very near relative in 

 South Africa. He never comes down farther south than 

 Mashonaland. He is known to you as the Yellow Baboon. 

 He doesn't like cold, so he prefers to live in the warmer 

 parts of Africa, from the Zambesi away north to Abyssinia. 

 He is what you would term a first cousin. Then we have 

 some second cousins in South Africa ; there are six different 

 kinds. They are all long and slender in body, with long 

 tails, and not nearly so clumsy-looking as we are. They 

 are called arboreal monkeys, because they live in trees. 



You can always tell one of us baboonfolk because we have 

 a certain secret sign by which all our people know us. We 

 hold up our tail so that about a foot of it from the root 

 slants upwards at an angle, then it curves and droops down- 

 wards toward the ground. If you see a monkey holding 

 his tail like that, you will know he is a baboon. 



I could tell you hundreds of wonderful things which 

 happened to me and to my tribe, but I am old and weak, 

 and I feel weary and will now go to rest, and let some of 

 the youths and maids tell you a few of their experiences. 



HOW THE HUMANFOLK CAPTURED ME 



I am one of the baboonfolk. I am only an ignorant 

 youth, and our menfolk used to cuff and knock me about. 

 They said I was evil-minded, selfish, and surly. Well, 

 anyhow, I wasn't going to stay at home and be bullied, 

 so I used to wander off by myself. One day I was roaming 

 around, looking for anything which might be good to eat, 

 when I spied some calabashes. I touched one with my 

 hand and it rattled. Turning it over, I saw that it was 

 hollow. I peered inside. There at the bottom lay a 

 double-handful of mealies. Thrusting in my hand I 



