BATTLE WITH BABOONS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XLI, Issue 2206, 1 August 1910, Page 7

BATTLE WITH BABOONS.

Mr. HAGENBECK'3 ANIMAL. STORIES. No living man knows more about animals than Carl , Hagenbeck, the : great German dealer, and it is difficult to imagine a more absorbingly interesting book than his "Beasts

•and Men," Dramatic stories of baboon hunting are told -which recall slave-raid-ing narratives in a wonderfully human fashion. A trap, resembling a native hut, well baited with food, is employed, and the baboons are easily imprisoned by a trap-door device. The herd outside surround the prisoners and urge them to escape. On the approach of their captors, eays Mr. Hagenbeck, they show all the signs of extreme terror. The captured males are muzzled, hands and feet are tied, and their whole bodies are wrapped in cloth till they resemble great smoked sausages. When the captives are taken away their comrades do not desert them, but climb up the palm trees, howl out unintelligible words, which are answered with mournful voices by the prisoners. When powerful Arabian baboons were the object of the hunt, on one occasion when the trap was sprung, three thousand baboons hurled themselves savagely on their slavers, who defended themselves with firearms and cudgels. The hunters were driven back by sheer force of numbers, and the victorious baboons made short work of the cage

and released their imprisoned friends. "Many touching scenes were witnessed in this battle," continues the author. "One baboon, who had been injured by a blow from a cudgel, was picked up and carried safely off by a great male from the very midst of the enemy. In another instance a female, who already had one infant on her back, picked up and went off with another whose mother had been shot."