THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 5 



the nuts, and all the things which are dear to us baboons. 

 Yes, and they even robbed us of our greatest dainty, which 

 is the honey of wild bees. There is a wretched creature 

 you call a honey guide, which is a little greyish bird. 

 This insolent little fellow would go and flutter and chirp 

 right in front of these Bushman pirates, who seemed to 

 know all about bird language. Well, these little rascals 

 would fly off from branch to branch as soon as the Bushman 

 started to follow, and they would lead him to one of our 

 bees' nests. The honey guide doesn't go to all this trouble 

 just because he loves the Bushmen. It's because he loves 

 the young bees in the honeycomb, which look like fat 

 white grubs. You see, there was always a sort of under- 

 standing or compact between the birds and the Bushmen. 

 When the robber Bushman got out the honey, he would 

 leave a little for the bird. 



OUR ENEMIES THE LEOPARDS 



Another enemy we dread is the leopard. His tread is 

 so soft, and he is so very cunning, that, although we have 

 got better and keener brains than he, yet he is often able 

 to get the better of us. Sometimes he manages to climb 

 up to our caves in the dead of night, and silently pounces 

 on one of us, whom he instantly carries off to his lair. We 

 are dreadfully timid at night, and he knows it too. That's 

 why he so often attacks us then. Sometimes during the 

 daytime, when we are playing about on the rocks in the 

 sun, or gathering nuts and herbs out on the veld, he will 

 pounce on one of our children, or our womenfolk, and 

 carry them off. In some parts of the country, krantzes 

 are scarce, so we baboons have to sleep up in the branches 

 of high trees. When our people have to do this, the 

 big warriors of the clan sleep in such a position that a 

 prowling leopard would have to pass near or over them 



