THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 13 



HOW WE GUARD AGAINST SURPRISE 



You humanfolk often get very conceited, and think 

 yourselves clever. You look upon us baboonfolk as mere 

 " animals," altogether different from yourselves, and of no 

 consequence. You mustn't forget the fact that although 

 you are called " human," whatever that means, you are 

 classified as animals just as we are. Your bodies are the 

 same as ours, except that they are different in shape, because 

 you live a different kind of life to that which we have to 

 live. Bone for bone, muscle for muscle, nerve for nerve, 

 organ for organ, we have in common with you. However, 

 we freely admit that most of you have far more brains than 

 we have — but not all of you. There are plenty of human- 

 folk who are not nearly as clever as we are. 



However, I started off to tell you how we guard our- 

 selves against enemies, but my thoughts wandered. Before 

 those hateful Bushmen came, the only enemies we feared 

 much were lions, leopards, cheetahs, and caracals or lynxes. 

 You see, these cat-like creatures are very cunning and 

 tricky, and they would lie hidden until we came out to 

 search for food. When we had spread ourselves out, and 

 were busy pulling the sweet gum off the acacia trees, 

 collecting the fruit from the mountain plum trees, or digging 

 up bulbs and roots, those treacherous enemies would watch 

 their chance, and pounce out upon our boys and girls, and 

 carry them ofE before we could collect together. 



OUR SENTRIES 



All that you humanfolk know, you or your ancestors 

 have learned by experience. So it is with us. We have 

 learned that it is unwise to venture out of our caves and 

 shelters without first placing somebody on watch. So, 



