662 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



terrible Lanka, the city of the demon-king Havana. In gratitude for 

 this, Rama crowned him and embraced him in the sight of both hosts, 

 of men and of gods. 



In no land in the world has honor to apes struck as deep root as 

 in India. Formerly temples were consecrated to them, and now, as 

 Tavernier relates, asylums, special gardens, and hospitals are erected 

 for them ; and the Hulman is particularly regarded as sacred. Cap- 

 tain Johnson states that the natives of Baka leave a tithe of the har- 

 vest on the field for the Bhunder (llacacus Rhesus) ; and the penalty 

 of killing this ape was death. The mild, human-like face of the orang- 

 outang when quiet, and his deliberate, gentle, docile manner, contrast- 

 ing with the nervous, convulsive restlessness of other monkeys, were 

 well adapted to win for him the favor and reverence of the Indians ; 

 and this was apparently not affected by the knowledge of the ferocious 

 appearance and manner he exhibits when enraged. The Javanese, re- 

 marking upon these features, say, " Monkeys could speak if they would, 

 but they do not, because they are afraid that if they did they would 

 be put to work." Indian princely families boast of their descent from 

 apes, and bear the title of " tailed Rana." In the Indian metempsy- 

 chosis the souls of the pious after death pass into the Hulman. 



The apes of the New World received a similar treatment from its 

 aborigines to that which was given to their relatives in the Old World. 

 A remarkable correspondence is observable between the Aztec hiero- 

 glyphics for the days and the animal symbols which the Eastern Asi- 

 atics apply to the designation of the course of their year. The sym- 

 bols in the Mongolian calendar are derived from animals, and among 

 them four of the twelve coincide precisely with those of the Aztec 

 calendar, and three are as nearly the same as the difference in the 

 genera of the two hemispheres permits them to be. This will appear 

 more plainly as an enumeration of the animal signs used by the East- 

 ern Asiatics in describing their years. Among the Mongols, Mantchoo 

 Tartars, Japanese, and Thibetans, they are the mouse, the ox, the 

 leopard (or tiger), the hare, the crocodile (or dragon), the serpent, the 

 horse, the sheep (or goat), the ape, the hen, the dog, and the hog. 

 Among the Mexican names for the days we also find the hare, the ser- 

 pent, the ape, and the dog ; and instead of the leopard, crocodile, and 

 hen, which were unknown in Mexico at the time of the conquest, the 

 panther, lizard, and eagle. Thus, the Mexicans made the ape a symbol 

 in the division of time and in chronological reckoning. Aztec tradi- 

 tions make mention, like those of the Hindoos, Thibetans, Persians, 

 and Greeks, of four or five cataclysms, of cycles, after the fulfillment 

 of each of which the world was destroyed, to be recreated anew. The 

 belief in the recurrence at appointed times of these revolutions of 

 nature through the operation of one or another of the elements was 

 peculiar to many lands of the Eastern hemisphere, and has often been 

 advanced as an argument in favor of the doctrine of a common origin. 



