60 
THE CHACMA. 
a day or two, causes inevitable death. The fiery snn of the tropical regions, and the arid, 
scorching atmosphere, absorb every particle of moisture from the body, and cause a constant 
desire to supply the unwonted waste with fresh material, exactly where such a supply is least 
attainable. 
Among these climates, the want of a proper supply of water is soon felt, the longing for 
the cool element becomes a raging madness ; the scorched and hardened lips refuse their office, 
and the tongue rattles uselessly in the mouth, as if both tongue and palate were cut out of 
dried wood. 
The value of any means by which such sufferings can be alleviated is incalculable ; and the 
animal of which we are speaking is possessed of this priceless faculty. 
When the water begins to run short, and the known fountains have failed, as is too often 
the sad hap of these desert wells, fortunate is the man who owns a tame Chacma, or “Bavian,” 
as it is called. The animal is first deprived 
of water for a whole day, until it is furious 
with thirst, which is increased by giving 
it salt provisions, or putting salt into its 
mouth. This apparent cruelty is, how- 
ever, an act of true mercy, as on the Chac- 
ma may depend the existence of itseif and 
the whole party. 
A long rope is now tied to the ba- 
boon’s collar, and it is suffered to run 
about wherever it chooses, the rope being 
merely used as a means to prevent the 
animal from getting out of sight. The 
baboon now assumes the leadership of the 
band, and becomes the most important 
personage of the' party. 
First it runs forward a little, then 
stops ; gets on its hind feet, and sniffs up 
the air, especially taking notice of the 
wind and its direction. It will then, per- 
haps, change the direction of its course; 
and after running for some distance take 
another observation. Presently it will 
spy out a blade of grass, or similar object, 
pluck it up, turn it on all sides, smell it, 
and then go forward again. And thus the 
animal proceeds until it leads the party to water ; guided by some mysterious instinct which 
appears to be totally independent of reasoning, and which loses its powers in proportion as 
reason gains dominion. 
The curious employment of the animal for the discovery of water, is mentioned by Captain 
Drayson, It. A., in his interesting work, “Sporting Scenes among the Kaffirs of South Africa.” 
In the course of the same work he gives many life-like illustrations of baboon habits, whether 
wild or tame. 
Of the daily life of the baboons, the following affords a graphic and amusing description. 
“During the shooting trip with the Boers, I awoke before daybreak, and as I felt very cold 
and not inclined to sleep, I got up, and taking my gun, walked to a little ravine, out of which 
a clear, murmuring stream flashed in the moonlight, and ran close past our outspan. A little 
distance up this kloof, the fog was dense and thick ; the blue and pink streaks of the morning 
light were beginning to illuminate the peaks of the Draakensberg, but all immediately around 
us still acknowledged the supremacy of the pale moonlight. I wanted to see the sun rise in 
this lonely region, and watch the changing effects which its arrival would produce on the 
mountains and plains around. 
