CHAPTER XII.

KARROO BEASTS, BIRDS AND REPTILES.

Leopard drowned in well--Baboons--Egyptian sacred animals on Cape farms--"Adonis"--A humiliating retreat--A baby baboon--Clever tricks performed by baboons--Adonis as a _Voorlooper_--A four-handed pointsman--Sarah--A baboon at the Diamond Fields-- Adonis's shower-bath--His love of stimulants--His revengeful disposition--Pelops the dog-headed--Horus--_Aasvogels_-- Goat-sucker--The butcher-bird's larder--Nest of the golden oriole --The kapok-bird--Snakes in houses--A puff-adder under a pillow --Puff-adder most dangerous of Cape snakes--Cobras--_Schaapsticker_ --Ugly house-lizards--Dassie-adder--The dassie the coney of Scripture--Stung by a scorpion--Fight between tarantula and centipede--Destructive ants--The _Aardvaark_, or ant-bear-- Ignominious flight of a sentry--Ant-lion--Walking-leaves--The Hottentot god--A mantis at a picnic 237