i6o THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 



say that monkeys have evolved from lemurs and that we 

 are only the degenerate survivors of a very ancient race. 

 Anyhow, our pre-historic ancestors, or many of them, were 

 of great size. We are mere pigmies in comparison. The 

 two Galago lemurs who are known best in South Africa 

 are my cousin, Garnett's Galago {Galago garnetti) and the 

 clan to which I belong. I am one of the Moholi lemurs 

 {Galago moholi) who live in the forests of the Transvaal, 

 Rhodesia, and a good way farther north, We never come 

 down south. My cousin lives mostly in the forests of 

 Natal and Zululand. He is twice as big as I am. From 

 the tip of his nose to the base of his tail he is fourteen 

 inches, whereas we only measure about seven inches. Now 

 and then our children are born pure white, instead of mouse 

 colour, which is our normal colour. This does not often 

 occur. 



I remember the natives in Mashonaland who lived near 

 a certain forest used to be terribly afraid, and wouldn't 

 for anything go through the forest at night. One of us 

 happened to be snowy white, and I suppose he looked to 

 them like a ghost as he flitted silently from branch to 

 branch. We were rather glad, because the natives used 

 to sometimes kill and eat us. 



GALAGO LEMURS 



Although we are called Galagos we are really lemurs. 

 That is, we belong to the lemur family. You see, those 

 scientific humanfolk when they start studying other kinds 

 of folk, separate them according to their kind. For instance, 

 there are over fifty different kinds of lemurs, including us 

 Galagos, of course. Your wise men find out the different 

 kinds and give each a name. Then they carefully examine 

 all the different kinds, and those which are very much alike 

 in the arrangement of their teeth, their toes, and some 



