"These animals, according to travellers, plunder whole fields of grain, and plantations of sugar-cane; and while one stands centinel on a tree, the others load themselves with the booty. If any person appears, the centinel gives notice by crying houp, houp, houp, which the rest perfectly understand, and all at once throw down the plunder which they hold in their left hands, and scamper off upon three legs; if close pursued they also throw down what they have in their right, and save themselves from their pursuers by climbing up trees, which is their general abode. They leap from tree to tree, and even the females, though loaded with their young ones, leap like the others; but they sometimes, in their haste, miss their aim and fall. They are very difficult to render in any degree docile, and are never so far tamed as to be suffered to go unchained. Even in their own country they will not produce unless at perfect freedom in the woods. When they cannot procure fruits they feed upon insects, and sometimes go to the sides of the rivers, for the purpose of catching fish and crabs, the latter of which they take by watching the opening of its claws and then putting their tails between; the crab instantly closes them, when they, with all speed, drag it ashore, and eat it at leisure. They are fond of cocoa-nuts, and are very expert in extracting the juice for drink, and afterwards getting at the kernel, the shell of which is generally made use of as a snare to catch them; a small hole being made in one of them, the animal who meets with it thrusts his paw in with difficulty, when those who have laid the trap run and seize him before he can disengage himself. They sometimes place bamboos on the tops of trees for the purpose of extracting the zari, which drops from them, and which they drink. In the provinces of India, where the Bramins reside, and whose religious tenets do not allow them to kill any animals, the monkeys are almost numberless. They assemble in large troops, come into the towns, and enter the houses with perfect freedom, and hesitate not to take such provisions, fruits, or herbs as they can meet with, and which it is very difficult to preserve from them." There are three kinds of hospitals in the town of Amadabad, which is the capital of Guzarat, for animals, and where not only the lame and sick monkeys but also such as are well, if they chuse to live there, are plentifully supplied with provisions. It is said that the monkeys in the neighbourhood regularly assemble twice a week in the streets of the town, that they go to the tops of the houses, which have a sort of terraces or flat roofs, where they lie in the sun; and that on these days the inhabitants are careful to lay upon these terraces rice, millet, sugar-canes, and other fruits in season; for if by chance they omit to do so, these animals pull off the tiles from the other part of the house, and do great damage to the inside. They do not eat a single thing without smelling at it for a long time, and when they have satisfied their hunger they fill the pouches on the sides of their cheeks for another occasion: they destroy the nests of birds, and never fail to throw the eggs on the ground when they want appetite or inclination to eat them.
The most formidable enemy these animals have is the serpent; no other animal of the forest being able to surprise them, as they are so exceedingly swift and subtle, that they climb up and seat themselves on the tops of the highest trees. “The apes, says a traveller, have it in their power to be masters of the forest, for neither tigers nor lions are able to dispute the possession with them. The only animal they have to fear is the serpent, which attacks them both night and day. There are some serpents in those forests of a prodigious size, which wind up the trees where the monkeys reside, and when they happen to surprise them sleeping, swallow them whole before they have time to make a defence.”
Distinctive Characters of this Species.
The malbrouck has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. His tail is nearly as long as both the body and head. The eyelids are of a flesh colour, and the face a cinereous grey; the eyes are large, the muzzle broad and turned upwards; the ears are large, thin, and of a flesh colour. They have a line of grey hairs on them like the mone, but the other parts of their bodies are of a uniform colour, a yellowish brown on the upper and a yellowish grey on the lower. He goes on all fours, and is about a foot and a half long from the muzzle to the insertion of the tail.
The bonnet chinois seems to be a variety of the malbrouck. They differ in the hair on the crown of the head, which in the latter is disposed in the shape of a cap or flat bonnet, and in the tail which is larger. The females of both are subject to a periodical emanation.
THE MANGABEY.[V]
[V] This is a precarious name which we have given to this animal, until we know what it is called in its native country. As it is found at Madagascar in the vicinity of Mangabey, this name will make it familiar to travellers, who will thus be led to observe it with more precision.
WE have seen two individuals of this species, both of which were sent to us by the denomination of Madagascar apes. They are easily distinguished from all other monkeys by a very apparent character. The mangabey ([fig. 206.]) has its eyelids naked, and of a very striking whiteness. Their muzzle also is large, thick, and long; and they have a ring round their eyes. Those we are speaking of varied also in colour, the hair of one being of a blackish brown on the head, neck, and upper parts of the body, and white on the belly; and in the other it was much lighter over all the body, with a collar of white hair round the neck and cheeks. Both carry their tails turned backwards, the hair of which is long and bushy. They are natives of the same country as the vari, and as they resemble that animal in the length of the muzzle and tail, in the manner of carrying it, and in the varieties of colour; they seem to fill up the chasm betwixt the makis and guenons, or long-tailed monkeys.