24 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

The Goyalty sD Officer, wishing to put the fidelity of my
ofthe baboon to the test, pretended to strike me. At
Baboon. this he flew in a violent rage, and, from that time,
could never endure the sight of the officer. If he only saw
him at a distance he began to cry, and make all kinds of
grimaces, which evidently showed that he wished to revenge
the insult that had been done to me; he ground his teeth;
and endeavoured, with all his might, to fly at his face, but
that was out of his power, as he was chained down. The
offender several times endeavoured, in vain, to conciliate
him, by offering him dainties, but he remained long im-
placable.
The “When any eatables were pilfered, at my quar-
Pie ters, the fault was always laid upon Kees; and rarely
Baboon, was the accusation unfounded. For a time the
eggs, which a hen laid me, were constantly stolen, and
I wished to ascertain whether I had to attribute this loss also
to him. For this purpose I went one morning to watch him,
and waited till the hen announced, by her cackling, that she
had laid an egg. Kees was sitting upon my vehicle; but,
the moment he heard the hen’s voice, he leapt down, and
was running to fetch the egg. When he saw me, he suddenly
stopped, and affected a careless posture, swaying himself
backwards upon his hind legs, and assuming a very innocent
look; in short, he employed all his art to deceive me with
respect to his design. His hypocritical manceuvres only con-
firmed my suspicions, and, in order, in my turn, to deceive
him, I pretended not to attend to him, and turned my back
to the bush where the hen was cackling, upon which he
immediately sprang to the place. I ran after him, and came
up to him at the moment when he had broken the egg and
was swallowing it. Having caught the thief in the fact, I
gave him a good beating upon the spot, but this severe
chastisement did not prevent his soon stealing fresh-laid eggs
again. As I was convinced that I should never be able to