The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-10
BABOON WARFARE.
The SimiRns Are Well Organized for
Plumber or Defense.


Evidence of the astonishing sagacity
and military organization Of the African
balloons increases with the recent ex-
ploration of their favorite haunts, due
to the troubles in Central Africa and
Abyssinia. The English. German ana
Italian travellers and emisaraies
who have been employed in
various missions on the fringes of
the Abyssin.an plateau have corroborated
many stories whach have hitherto been
suspected to be exaggerations Of fact It
now appears that their methods and dis
cipline are far in advance of those of any
other vertebrate animals. and not inferior
TO those of some of the negro tribes them
selves.
The conditions of the life Of these mon
keys in Africa are sufficiently curious
without reference to their acquired hao-
its, though these are undoubtedly due to
the dangers to which tse nature of the
country in which they live exposes them.
The different species Of balloons, which
are found commonly over the whole Arr
can continent, are all by nature jewellers
in the open country. They find their food
on the ground, and, whether this be In
sects or vegetables, it is usually in places
which afford little shelter or protection.
Through strong and Well armed with
teeth, they are slow animals, with little
of the usual monkey agility when on the
ground, and not particularly active even
when climbing among rocks. In the rocky
"kOpjes' of the south, or the cliffs and
river sides Of Abyssinia, and the Nile
tributaries, they are safe enough. But they
often abandon these to invade the low
country.
During the Abyssinian expedition con-
Quoted by Lord Napier to Magdala, they
regularly Camped near our cantonments
on the coast, and stole the grain on which
the cavalry horses and transport animals
were fed. When on expeditions of this
kind they often leave their strongholds
for days together, and the means of
joint defense from enemies in the open
country are then carefully organized.
Their natural enemies when thus exposed
are the leopard, the Ion and, in South
Africa. the cape wild dogs. To the at
tack of the leopard they oppose numbers
and discipline No encounter between the
! balloons and Wild dogs has been witness
ed and described, but their defensive OPP
erations against domesticated dogs were
| seen and recorded by the German natur-
alist Brehm.
The following account appears in the
translation of his travels by Mrs. Thomp-
son. just published: The balloons were
on fiat ground, crossing a valley. when
the travellers dogs, Arab greyhounds, &C
customed to fight successfully with hye-
ward the balloons. only the females took
TO flight; the, males, on the
contrary .o,, turned to face the
with their hands, opened their mouths
wide and showed their giittering teeth.
and looked at their adversaries so flu
riOusly and maEciOusly that the hounds
usually bold and battle-hardened, shrank
back" BY the time the dogs were en-
couraged 10 renew the attack the whole
herd had made their way, covered by the
rearguard to the rocks, except a six
months old monkey, which was left be-
| hind. The little monkey sat on low rock
surrounded by the dogs, but was rescued
by an old babOon, who stepped down
| from cliff near, advancing toward the
dogs, kept them in check by gestures and
menac.ng sounds, picked up the baby
| monkey and carried it to the cliff, where
the. dense, crowd of monkeys, shouting
their battle cry, were watching mis- he
roism. The march of the balloons is not
a mere expedition of the predatory mem
bers of the community. The whole nation
cultivated ground in common. Their
communities are numerous enough TO re-
produce in miniature the movement of
troops. The tribe often numbers from go
10 300 individuals of these the females
and young are placed in the center when
on he march, while the old males march
in front and close the rear. Other males
scout upon the TANKS. 1t has been no
ticed that these remain on guard, and do
not feed during the whole time that the
rest are gathering provender.
If disturbed by men, the old males form
a rear-guard and retire without any
haste, allowing the females and young to
go on ahead carrying the plumber Their
retreat is, a rule, deliberate and or
derby, the balloons being quite ready to
do battle with any animal except man on
the plains and instantly becoming the
assailant of man himself when they get
the advantage OF position. Brehm was
stoned out of a pass in a few minutes ny
the dog-faced balloons; These self-relant
animals" he writes, ARE a match even
for men. While the screaming females
with young ones fed with all haste over
the crest of the rock beyond the range
of our guns, the adult males, casting flu
rious glances beating the ground with
their hands, sprang upon stones and
lodges looked down on the valley for
| few moments, continually growing, snarl-
| ing and screaming, and then began to
roll down stones on use with so much
vigor and adroitness that we Immediately
saw that our lives were in danger and
took TO fight. The clever animals not only
conducted their defense on a definite plan
but they acted in cooperation, striving
for a common end, and eXerting all their
united strength to obtain it. One of our
number saw one monkey drag his stone
up tree, that he might hurl it down with
more effect; ] myself saw two combining
to set a heavy stone rolling"