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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Fig. 8. Strange Messmates. 



ping expeditions to the hills, at a time of the year when the mountain 

 macaques were rather hard up for provisions and could be baited with 

 " fuddle - cakes " i. e., rice-bread soaked in a mixture of sugar-and- 

 rum. The trapper used to hide behind a tree, and let the monkey as- 

 semblage enjoy his bounty till their antics suggested that it was time 

 for him to rush in, like Cyrus into the banquet-hall of Belshazzar. 

 Experience, however, soon taught the little mountaineers to change their 

 tactics. Instead of devouring the fuddle-cakes on the spot, they learned 

 to gather them up and defer the feast till they reached a retreat where 

 they could hope to be left alone in their glory. But the trappers, too, 

 have since changed their plan. They manufacture a sort of narrow- 

 necked jars, about the size of sarsaparilla bottles, and, after filling them 

 with a melange of sirup and alcohol, they tie them firmly to the root 

 of a tree and withdraw out of sight. The monkeys come down and 

 sip the nectar, a little at a time, till many a mickle has muddled their 

 perceptives to the degree which the founder of Buddhism would have 

 called the first stage of Nirvana indifference to earthly concernments 

 in general. The trapper then approaches and collects his guests, whose 



