THE COMMON MACAQUE.[51]
The so-called Common Macaque, or Macacus cynomolgus, represents the long-tailed section of the genus, and grows to be a powerful animal amongst the other small Monkeys, over a very wide extent of country. It lives in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Batchian, in the islands from Lombok to Timor, and in the Philippines. It is a quiet and tolerably amiable Monkey when young, but with years, it becomes a wild, savage, and very brutal creature. Even in menageries it is often nasty in its habits, and savage. So bad a character has it, that when the proper name to give it came under the criticism of Fred. Cuvier, he sought out those of all the wickedest and naughtiest men in Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary, and finally considering that Irus, who disturbed the domestic peace of the sublimely virtuous, industrious, and persevering Penelope, was the worst of the worst, he fixed his name to that of this Monkey. But Buffon had, not from his bad qualities, or from any resemblance to the Monkey in disposition, his name attached to it long before; so it was called Buffon’s Monkey, as well as the Hare-lipped, although one fails to recognise this condition in its face. To complicate matters, an English zoologist, who knew little of Penelope’s feelings or trials, mistook the word Irus, and wrote it Iris! The word Cynomolgus may be translated “a pilfering or a lewd dog,” so that it and Irus are very appropriate.
The huge shoulders of the full-grown adult strike one, and its general clumsiness also. There is a large body, and the limbs are short for it, although the tail is long. The fur is rather short, and is of an olive-brown, spotted with black on the head and body, but it is grey on the limbs, and blackish on the tail. There is no “hare-lip” in this Monkey, but there is no hollow going from the nose to the upper lip as in man, and only a raised line.
This Monkey is sometimes found perfectly white, with red eyes, or as an albino; its skin is then of a pinkish colour, and the long tail looks very curious, as there is not much hair on it. A male and female of this kind are very interesting in the Zoological Gardens; they dislike the glare of day, and are very lively and full of fun and malice. The female has the whiskers and all the beauty of hair, and the male is a quieter animal, but a great grimace-maker. He tries to look fierce when the sun is on his face, and looks most odd. He draws back his ears, so that they cling to the back of his head, and wobbles his eyes about in a most laughable manner. The female does not like to be disturbed in her nap after breakfast, and comes out to see what is the matter. If anything noisy is going by, she scolds violently, and if she can catch hold of her drinking-tin, she will bang it about in a very amusing manner. Sitting in her wooden house, she bangs the outside with the tin, and then dropping it, rushes out and fixes her teeth on the wooden branches in the cage. The deficiency of colouring matter in the iris of the eye allows so much light to enter that organ, that there is the same scowling or shading eye look in them as there is in human albinos.
The second example of a long-tailed genus is
THE ROUND-FACED MACAQUE,[52] THE FORMOSAN MONKEY.
These are very interesting Monkeys, with a human-like expression, which suffer considerably at the hands of the Chinese, for should one be captured, its tail is immediately cut off, the Chinese having a fanciful idea that the tail of the Monkey is a caricature of the Tartar pendant into which they twist their long back hair. They therefore cut off the tail of every Macaque that comes into their possession.
They live in Formosa about the declivities and caverns which overhang the sea, miles away from any woods. It seems to be quite a rock-loving animal, seeking the shelter of the caves during the greater part of the day, and assembling in parties in the twilight and feeding on berries, the tender shoots of plants and grasshoppers, &c. In the summer it collects in bands during the night, and commits depredations among the fields of sugar-cane and fruit-trees. They nurse their solitary young ones up in the hills, and betray much uneasiness—no wonder—at the approach of man. They seem, however, to possess abundance of self conceit.
The Chinese have some very curious notions about them, and about some other Monkeys which are either identical or are found with them. They say that in the Yaoukwang hills are animals whose exterior appearance is like a Mehow with human face and Hogs’ bristles. During the summer they dwell in caves. They are called Hwatso, their cry is like cut water (noise of a mill), and when seen they are “ominous of a conscription” (i.e., of being forced to work). The Yew are like the Mehow and of a deep black colour; their tails are long like the others, but have no tufts. When they scent the dew ascending to form rain, they then suspend themselves by means of their tails to fill their nostrils with it, or else by both feet. The Gaou are said to inhabit the Lunseen hills, to be like an Ape with long arms, and to be good for killing. When their arms are cut through at the thick part, they can be made into flutes rounder than reeds. They are of the Monkey tribe, having long legs, and are good whistlers, and given to drag things about. The Yew are like the common Monkey, with green body and dark paws; they have black whiskers and black paws. They are naturally very fond of their whiskers, and doat on their species, living and dying together; on which account, if one can be got at, a hundred will be killed. Men shoot them with poisoned arrows; the shot animal’s companions draw out the arrow in order to wound themselves and die with one another.
These round-faced Monkeys have, of course, callosities on the buttocks, and these at certain times become gorged with blood, so as to swell out and become greatly distended, being horrible to look at.