30 LLOYD S NATURAL HISTORY. 



caverns makes its abode. On the treeless mountain in the 

 south-west, called Apes' Hill, it was at one time especially 

 abundant, but has since almost entirely disappeared. About 

 the mountains of the north and east it is still numerous, being 

 frequently seen playing and chattering among the steep rocks, 

 miles from any tree or wood. It seems to be quite a rock- 

 loving animal, seeking the shelter of caves during the greater 

 part of the day, and assembling in parties in the twilight, and 

 feeding on berries, the tender shoots of plants. Grasshoppers, 

 Crustacea, and MoUusca. In the summer it comes in numbers 

 during the night, and commits depredations among the fields 

 of sugar-cane, as well as among fruit-trees, showing a partiality 

 for the smallj round, clustering berries of the Longan {Nephelhim 

 longanuni). In the caverns among these hills they herd ; and 

 in June the females may frequently be seen in retired parts of 

 the hills with their solitary young one at their breasts. These 

 animals betray much uneasiness at human approach, disap- 

 pearing in no time, and skulking in their holes till the intruder 

 has passed. They seem, too, to possess abundance of self- 

 complaisance and resource ; for I have frequently seen a Mon- 

 key seated on a rock by himself, chattering and crying merely 

 for his own amusement and gratification, ^^'hatever Mr. 

 Waterton may say of the tree-loving propensity of Monkeys in 

 general, it is very certain that this species shows a marked 

 preference for bare rocks, covered only with grass and bush ; 

 for if he preferred the forest he might very easily satisfy his 

 desire by retirmg a few miles further inland, where he could 

 find it in abundance. But, on the contrary, in the forest he is 

 only an occasional intruder, resorting thither when food fails 

 him on the grassy hills by the sea, where he loves to make his 

 home. The Chinese have a fanciful idea that the tail of the 



