A PLAGUE OF BABOONS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 355, 26 April 1911, Page 3

A PLAGUE OF BABOONS.

THEY ATE THE CROPS IN NIGERIA SO FAST, NATIVES GAVE UP FARMING.

In many parts of Nigeria, and especially among the hill regions of the northern provinces, baboons are ;me of the greatest plagues to the farmer, and a source of menace to property and even life. A Protectorate officer, while engaged in business in a mountain village, was informed by the local queen that her people could not continue their farming owing to the raids of baboons. During the absence of the men a few weeks' previously, these beasts bad actually come into the heart of the village and destroyed the crops, according to the "Wide World Magazine." The natives are in constant dread of them, and continually fear for the safety of their children. Sir William Wallace relates that he has seen droves of fifty to a hundred of these animals all in single file, and that lately he himself shot two enormous brutes who were grinning at him from the cliffs. They utter a nerve-shattering and horrid bark. They possess a regular system of defence, and always have signallers out to watch for the approach of a possible enemy. These scouts are always the biggest monkeys, and they signal by barks to their comrades when strangers are approaching.