MONKEYS I HAVE MET 



Although their simulation of ourselves in 

 feature and some habits has never been an 

 appreciated form of flattery, " our poor relations " 

 have interest for most people, and I personally 

 welcome gladly the opportunities which a resi- 

 dence in tHe East has given me for enlarging 

 my acquaintance with monkeys. The common 

 monkey of India is, of course, the species known 

 in Hindustani as Bunder, and to naturalists as 

 Macacus rhesus, and it is also the most familiar 

 in England, since the organ-grinder's companion 

 and slave usually, at all events, belongs to this 

 species. About Calcutta, however, I never saw 

 this monkey in a truly wild state, but a few 

 specimens which had escaped were occasionally 

 to be seen, and I well remember seeing some 

 feeding in a way which considerably enlightened 

 me as to the powers for mischief among crops 

 which the tribe possess. The food in this case 

 was the blossoms of a flowering tree, and instead 

 of picking them in a reasonable way the little 

 wretches slid down the boughs and deliberately 

 broke off twigs a foot long or more, throwing 



these away after picking off a few flowers. Up 



276 



