It lives in Borneo, and is about eighteen inches in length. It has a flat nose, with nostrils opening well outwards, and the eyes are hazel, the pupils being very large. The length of the bones of the tail is not enough to carry it beyond the callosities, which are of a roseate hue.
When young the skull is short, and there is no great projection over the eye; but with age the upper part of the face becomes very square, and the eyebrow ridges grow. Now; this gloomy-looking Monkey offers some points of interest, for there is another one, called the Booted Monkey (Macacus ocreatus), which cannot be distinguished from it when both are young. With age, however, the last-named one becomes oily black, has a longer tail, and the hair on the head has a bushier appearance. But can these distinctions be accepted as showing a difference in the species? Probably not; and it will be for the student to consider that Monkeys may have races and varieties which really pertain but to one species, and yet are separated by the naturalist.
There are other short-tailed species of the Macaques, of which one, called the Handsome Monkey (Macacus speciosus), has a red face. It is from Japan, and is educated by the showmen there to do tricks like the Rhesus Monkey of India.
Another kind is interesting, because it gives a hint how a tail may be gradually lost from being in the way.
BELANGER’S MONKEY.[56]
This is found in Cochin-China, Singapore, Burmah, and up in the hills of Upper Burmah, Cochin, and Assam.
Its tail is more than a stump, yet is not half a middle-sized one, as it does not come lower than the haunch-bones. The Monkey is much troubled with it. Sometimes it is stuck up erect, but usually it is curled inwards, as if the animal were ashamed of it, and had done something wrong. When this is the case, the end quarter of it is doubled up, and thus the space between the haunch-bones is filled, as it were. The animal then sits on its tail and on its callosities, which are on the haunch-bones, and the consequence is that the surface of the tail, thus compressed, becomes hard and callous. Here, writes Dr. Anderson, the Indian zoologist, is an instance of a Monkey sitting on its tail; and the habit appears to be peculiar to the species. The tail is very degenerated, so far as its bones are concerned, and the curvature of it appears to be caused by the animal desiring to curve it out of the way of pressure. Perhaps, according to Lord Monboddo, this is the first symptom of the loss of tail. With regard to the other peculiarities of this species, it may be mentioned that it has pretty eyes, and is exceedingly easily domesticated.
THE PIG-TAILED MACAQUE.[57]—THE BRUH.
This is a short, thin-tailed kind, comes from Sumatra, Borneo, and the Malay Peninsula, and is called by the natives the Bruh—climber of the palms. It is said to be used by the natives to collect cocoa-nuts, and is domesticated by them, being often found in their houses.