THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 89 



more than two or three showers fall. Many parts of the 

 country are parched and dry. Sometimes there will be 

 heavy rains, and the vleys, the ponds, and the rivers are 

 filled, and the springs gush out afresh. Then the hot sun's 

 rays pour down day after day and month after month, 

 greedily sucking up the water again into the skies, and all 

 the land once again is thirsty. 



You humanfolk imagine the plants are senseless sorts of 

 things. Don't you believe it. They are nothing of the 

 sort. They can adapt themselves to altered conditions of 

 life, just as well, or better, than you can. Now if a few 

 of you humanfolk were lost out in the wilds, and were 

 without guns to kill the wild creatures, you would die 

 of starvation, although there would be plenty of food 

 everywhere. 



When the climate began to alter, instead of regular 

 rains to give the plants all the water they needed, there 

 were long periods of drought between times. Those dry 

 times gradually grew longer, and there was less and less 

 rain. Did the hundreds of kinds or species of plants wither 

 and die because their outward circumstances, or rather 

 means of livelihood, had been taken away ? No, they 

 didn't do anything of the sort. They just adapted them- 

 selves to the altered conditions. They surrounded their 

 tender internal parts with tough skins, which prevented the 

 dry air and hot sun from sucking out their water supply. 

 Then their bodies grew fatter, and they threw out fewer 

 leaves. In these fat bodies they stored up a huge amount of 

 water, and kept it for future use, just like you do when you 

 store it in tanks. You see, when a shower of rain fell, the 

 roots of the plants greedily sucked up as much water as they 

 could hold, and stored it away. It was doled out as required 

 for the life of the plant. 



