132 THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 



master was also kind, but I didn't like him nearly so much 

 as my former master. One day a crowd of rude, cruel 

 boys teased me dreadfully by poking sticks at me, and trying 

 to hurt me by throwing pebbles. I was chained up, or 

 else they wouldn't have dared to insult me in that way. 

 I got dreadfully angry. In fact I was so irritable that I 

 lost my presence of mind, for when my master came along 

 as usual to play with me, I sprang at him, alighted on his 

 shoulder and gashed his throat and neck with my teeth. 



All the following day I was starved. I felt dreadfully 

 hungry, and began to get alarmed lest they were going to 

 allow me to starve to death. Next morning my master 

 came along with a plate of mashed bananas, which were my 

 favourite dainty. I seized the dish and took a mouthful. 

 I instantly spat it out again, for it was poisoned. Nothing 

 would induce me to eat any of that food. All that day I 

 fasted. The following morning two bananas were tossed 

 to me. They had their peels on, so I did not suspect they 

 were poisoned, but they were, for as soon as I tore a bit of 

 skin off, I could tell by the smell. I tested both in this 

 way. My master tried other ways to poison me, and used 

 different kinds of poisons, but I detected them all. I heard 

 him tell a friend that he had tried all the most tasteless and 

 odourless of poisons known to human chemistry. Yes, they 

 were perhaps tasteless and odourless to your blunted and 

 coarse senses of smell and taste, but not so to my highly- 

 trained and developed senses. I can assure you there are 

 many easier things to do than to poison a monkey. 



THE ADVENTURES OF A MONKEY 



I am one of the blue apes, or vervet monkeys. Almost 

 ever since I can remember, I have been chained up to a 

 pole with a cosy box at the top. My master kept different 

 breeds of fowls, which he was very proud of. I used to 



