THE MONKEYFOLK OF 

 SOUTH AFRICA 



CHAPTER I 



STORY OF A VETERAN OF THE BABOONFOLK 



I AM a grandfather old and grey. My people are known as 

 Chacma or Cape Baboons. The Dutch people call us 

 Baviaanen. Scientific fellows know us by the classic- 

 sounding name of Pafio porcarius. We have lived in South 

 Africa for untold ages. There are legends in our family 

 which incline us to believe that our people have lived for 

 hundreds of thousands of years amongst the krantzes and 

 the stony hills of beautiful, sunny South Africa. 



What happy times my forefathers must have had when 

 there were only the leopard, the cheetah, the lion, and 

 the python to fear. To-day we live in hourly dread of 

 you humanfolk. 



Hundreds of years ago, and perhaps a good many thou- 

 sands of years, according to baboon legends, my ancestors 

 got a terrible fright. They had begun to look upon the 

 krantzes, the caves, the broad veld, the wild berries, fruits, 

 herbs, roots, honey, and all the other things which are good 

 to eat, as their own particular property, when behold ! 

 a horde of curious little people came from somewhere — 

 goodness knows where. Anyway, they came down from 

 the north. 



A 



