THIS animal ([fig. 205.]) is a native of the same country, and is nearly of the same size as the macaque; but the body is longer, the face not so ugly, and the hair much finer. He is remarkable for the colour of his hair, which is of so brilliant a red as to make him appear as if he were painted. We have seen two of these animals much varied; the first had a line of black hairs above the eyes, extending from ear to ear. The second differed from the first only by the colour of this line which was white. The hair about the cheeks and under the chin of both was long, which made them large beards: but the colour of the first was yellow, and the other white. This variety seemed to indicate others in the colour of the hair: and I am inclined to think, that the monkey spoken of by Marmol, which is said to be of the colour of the wild cat, and to be a native of Africa, is only a variety of the Patas. These monkeys are not so subtle as the other kinds, but are possessed of an extreme curiosity. “I have seen them, says Brue, descend from the top of very high trees, to the extremities of the branches to view the vessels on the water; they admired them for some time and seemed to discourse with each other about what they had seen; and then quit their stations for their companions, who came after to have the same sight. Some even became so familiar as to throw branches at the Frenchman, who returned their salute by the shots of their muskets; some were killed others wounded, and the rest were thrown into the utmost consternation. One party uttered most hideous cries, while another picked up stones to throw at their enemies, but perceiving at length, how unequal the battle was, they desisted, and prudently retired.”
It is to be presumed, that it is this species of monkey which le Maire speaks of. “It is hardly possible to express, says this traveller, the havock these animals make in Senegal, when the rice, millet, and other grains, on which they feed, are ripe. They assemble together in companies of forty or fifty: one of them remains as centinel on a tree, while the rest commit their depredations. As soon as the centinel perceives any person near, he utters a loud cry, as a signal to the rest, who immediately obey and scamper off with their plunder, leaping from tree to tree with prodigious agility. The females, who carry their young clinging to their breasts, retreat in the same manner as the rest, and leap as if they were not incumbered with any burthen.”
Distinctive Characters of this Species.
The patas has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. His tail is as long as both his head and body: the crown of his head is flat. His muzzle, body, and legs, are long. He has black hair on the nose, and a narrow line of the same colour over the eyes, extending the breadth of the face. The hair on the upper parts of his body is of a reddish colour; and that of the lower, as the throat, breast, and belly, of a yellowish hue. There is a variety in this species, with respect to the colour of the line over the eyes, which is black in some, and white in others. They do not make grimaces when they are angry, like other monkeys. They walk on all fours more frequently than erect. They are from a foot and a half to two feet long, from the muzzle to the origin of the tail. The females are subject to a periodical emanation.
[THE MALBROUCK, AND THE BONNET CHINOIS.]
MALBROUCK ([fig. 204.]) is the name of this animal in its native country, Bengal, and Bonnet Chinois ([fig. 207.]) is a term given to the long tailed monkey, which has a kind of trencher cap on the crown of the head, like the Chinese bonnets.
These two monkeys seem to belong to one species; and this species, though somewhat different from that of the macaque, is nevertheless, so far bordering on it, as to make us doubt whether the macaque, the egret, the malbrouck, and the bonnet chinois, are not merely four varieties, or permanent races of the same species. As these animals do not propagate in our climate, we have not been able to acquire any knowledge respecting the unity or diversity of their species, and therefore are obliged to judge only by the difference of their figures, and other external attributes. The macaque and the egret, appeared to us so similar, that we presumed them to be of one and the same species. It is the same with respect to the malbrouck, and the bonnet chinois; but, as they differ in a greater degree from the two first than between themselves, we thought it best to separate them.
With respect to the diversity of these two species, our presumption is founded, 1. On the difference of their external form; 2. On the colour and disposition of the hair; 3. On the difference which is found in the proportion of their skeletons; and 4. On the first two mentioned being natives of the southern countries of Africa, and the two that we are now treating of, being natives of Bengal. This last consideration is of as great weight as any of the rest, for we have had sufficient proofs, that in wild animals the distance of climate is a sufficient mark of the remoteness of the species. Besides, the malbrouck and the bonnet chinois, are not the only species or breeds of monkeys which are found in Bengal. By the testimonies of travellers there seem to be four varieties, white, black, red and grey; they likewise tell us that the black kind are more easily tamed than any of the rest. Those we saw were reddish, and appeared very docile and familiar.