THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 127 



an escaped slave. We hunted him down and killed him. 

 We were afraid lest he might be a spy. I remember once, 

 however, several of our tribe were captured by a farmer-man 

 and carried off into slavery. A year afterwards one of the 

 slaves escaped. We spied him in the bush, and gave chase. 

 He fled in abject terror. We eventually overtook him. 

 Our leader was just about to give the order to execute him, 

 when with a cry, one of our number shouted out that he 

 was of our clan. Yes, so he was. We gathered around him, 

 and warmly welcomed him back. He told us all about 

 the life he had led during his captivity. We learned a lot 

 about the humanfolk and their ways from him. These 

 humanfolk have some very funny customs. Our friend 

 told us how the womenfolk squeezed their feet into little 

 narrow shoes with high heels. We laughed out loud when 

 he imitated the gingerly way they walked, and how they 

 held up the tail of their skirts with one hand. Then he 

 told us about how they deformed their bodies by squeezing 

 in their ribs with tight things you call corsets, and how they 

 drink a drug known as tea, and eat food every two or three 

 hours each day. It's no wonder indeed that they get so 

 iU. Then he told us about how humanfolk men puff smoke 

 from their mouths. It seems they smoke a poisonous 

 weed. There is a volatile poison called nicotine in this 

 weed. When the smoke is drawn into the mouth, the 

 poisonous oil is absorbed into the blood. This oil has a 

 strong hypnotic or drugging effect upon the brain and 

 nerves, which produces a soothing sort of feeling, like 

 drugs called morphia, chlorodyne, and laudanum. He says 

 the humanfolk youths ruin their bodies and brains by 

 smoking this poisonous weed. They even breathe the 

 smoke right down into the lungs. Many other things he 

 told us about the ways and customs of humanfolk. It is 

 very evident to us that humanfolk have much to learn, 

 and a great many bad disease-producing habits to overcome. 



