loo THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 



to stumble upon him and receive a death wound. From 

 our retreat up the rocks we saw our chief stumble and reel 

 along. He reached the side of the krantz and tried to climb. 

 He managed to get up a short distance, but his hold was 

 too feeble. He swayed and fell. The venom was rapidly 

 paralysing his nerve centres. He soon began to get con- 

 vulsions. It was terrible to watch him dying in such 

 apparent agony, although I don't suppose he was suffering 

 pain, because his brain and nerves were almost paralysed. 

 He only lived fifteen minutes after being bitten. 



OUR TAILS 



We baboonfolk have tails, but we don't use them as a 

 sort of hand to help us in climbing and swinging amongst 

 the branches of trees, as do our tree-loving cousins the 

 Vervet or Guenon monkeys. We are rock-monkeys, they 

 are tree-monkeys. Our tails are not altogether useless 

 appendages. We make use of them to convey our thoughts 

 by means of signals. We can talk, but our command of 

 words is very limited. We communicate with each other 

 a great deal by signs. The raising or lowering of the brows, 

 the twisting of the mouth, certain gestures with the hands, 

 all convey our thoughts to each other. We usually carry 

 our tails with the part of it nearest the body raised a good 

 deal. Then it takes a downward curve, the end pointing 

 to the ground. By erecting the tail or lowering it, 

 or by twitching, turning, or altering the angle of the 

 downward curve, we are able to make a great number 

 of signals, or rather to express our feelings without bother- 

 ing to talk. 



You humanfolk also show your inward feelings to a 

 great extent in much the same way as we do. If you are 

 surprised, you raise your brows ; if you are angry, you lower 

 them and tighten your lips ; and in a great many other 



