THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 117 



A MYSTERIOUS INSTINCT 



The feeling, or instinct, or whatever you might call it, 

 to rush to the rescue of those of one's kind in distress 

 is very strong in us baboonfolk. If we see one of our folk 

 in distress, we seem to lose all sense of fear, and a strong 

 feeling impels us to rush to his rescue. If the victim should 

 cry out in dire distress, then somehow a sort of madness 

 comes over us, and we rush blindly at the enemy, and attack 

 him with the greatest fury. 



You humanfolk have the same instinct, for it is quite a 

 common thing, for instance, when a person is drowning, 

 for people to jump in to try to save them, although they 

 are quite unable to swim themselves. In battle, your 

 soldiers will do the most daring things. Your history 

 books are full of stories of how brave men rescued their 

 brothers, or gave up their lives in the attempt. If you 

 ask such folk why they did it, they will tell you they don't 

 know. They just felt they had to. 



OLD WORLD AND NEW WORLD MONKEYFOLK 



We Chacma baboons of South Africa, and our first and 

 second cousins in other parts of Africa, are called dog- 

 faced baboons, because our faces jut out like those of most 

 dogs. Next to the anthropoid, or man-like apes, we baboon- 

 folk are the biggest and strongest of the monkey tribe. All 

 the different kinds of baboonfolk live in Africa and in the 

 countries on the north-east of the Red Sea. 



Scientific fellows say that, because our snouts are long, 

 like those of dogs, and because we always prefer to walk on 

 our hands and feet, that we are more closely related to the 

 lower kinds of animalfolk, such as dogs, wolves, and such 

 creatures, than are any of the other kinds of monkeyfolk of 



