months he lived with our friend at his quarters in the town. But though he was accustomed to see him every day, and also other people who went in and out of the room where he was tied up by a long string, he never grew tame. He was quite contented and happy as long as he was left alone, but directly any one went near him he would hide himself away in a minute, behind or under anything he could find, his favourite place of all being up the sleeve of one of his master's coats, which often hung within reach.

At last our friend, being quite out of patience at finding that he got no tamer, offered to send him to us; and as we were only too delighted to get him, for we had never had any pet like him before, so rare and interesting, he very soon arrived in a basket. He seemed dreadfully wild and frightened, and the first thing he did when the basket was opened was to take a tremendous leap on to the highest thing in the room, which happened to be a tall cupboard; and there he sat, looking defiantly about him, and resisting all our attempts to make friends with him.

He came to us merely on a visit for a time;

but after he had been with us a little while, we had got so fond of him that it was quite impossible to let him go again, so he became virtually our own.

I must here mention another name which our Eefit goes by besides Maholi. He is often called a Night Ape, and this name is given him for a very funny reason. For instead of going quietly to bed, like good little boys and girls, every night, the Eefit does nothing of the kind. He has a good long sleep all day, and then, as soon as he finds out, by opening one eye ever so little, that it is getting dark, up he jumps quite briskly, and begins all sorts of games.

If he is not tied up, he amuses himself by taking flying leaps across the room from one piece of furniture to another; and in hunting about, in all the corners and places where he thinks they are likely to be, for spiders and other insects, which he is very fond of; and also in peeping into and knocking over everything that is not too heavy for him to move. And if he is tied up, which we found was the only thing to be done, he moves about incessantly all night long as far as his string will allow him; which might all be very fine fun for the Eefit, but was

not so pleasant for those who were trying to go to sleep in the same room with him. And he was so precious that we could not bear to banish him, so he was allowed to make the top of the tall cupboard, which he had taken a fancy to, his home for good.

But as it was really hard to be continually startled out of our sleep by his sudden bounces on to the floor and up again, and to any piece of furniture he could reach, I determined to cure him, if possible, of such bad habits, and teach him to take his proper rest at night, as a well-conducted animal should do. By constantly talking to and petting him, I got him quite tame after a bit, and he would come when I called, and sit on my shoulder, and let me carry him about everywhere. So, with a little coaxing, and by feeding him always in the day-time, never allowing him anything at night, I soon got him to change his natural habits, and stay awake all day; so, of course, when night came he was quite tired out, and was obliged to go to sleep.

The Eefit certainly had his likes and dislikes, as the rest of us have. To me he seemed to take a great fancy directly he got settled down in his new home, and to others in the house he

was also tolerably amiable; he would take things from them, and would put up his head, in a funny little affected way he had, to have his face scratched.

But directly he caught sight of his old master he got very angry. He would raise his tail, and make a sort of noise like spitting at him, and his eyes, which were very large, round, and generally of a beautiful dark brown, would become a sort of orange colour, like a cat's when it is in a rage. It was very absurd to see so little a creature putting itself in such a defensive attitude. To no one else did he show so much dislike; but it must be confessed that our friend used to tease him most unmercifully, just for the fun of seeing him in one of his absurd tempers.

But he always made it up with him before he went away, by a peace-offering in the shape of an enormous spotted spider, of which there are generally any number to be found in the verandahs round the houses in Africa, and which the Eefit liked to eat better than anything else we could give him; and whenever we wanted to please him very much, we used to get him a spider. Not that we caught the horrid things with our hands; we managed, by a little

manoeuvring, to coax them on to the end of a long stick, and then, carrying them carefully, we presented them in that way to Master Eefit, who always seemed to know when they were coming, —indeed, he watched everything we did with the greatest curiosity, and would look out eagerly for them. And directly he caught sight of his prey he would put his ears back quite flat, just like a horse when it is going to kick or bite, and then, after looking it all over quietly for a moment, so as to see where to take a good hold, he would seize it suddenly, with quite a savage look, and gobble it up quickly, before the spider could have a chance of biting him, which it certainly would have done, had not the Eefit been so clever and quick.

But though so fond of spiders, he was not at all particular about what he ate. He liked to taste everything he saw us eat, and would make a funny little grunt to say he should like a bit too. Bread and milk, however, was his usual food, and sometimes a small piece of meat as a great treat. Sugar also he liked extremely; and I have often found him sitting on the table before a sugar-basin with both hands full, and his mouth crammed too, and almost choking

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