52 THE RHESUS, OR BHUNDER. 
is shorter. The callosities are well marked, and in some instances are rendered more 
conspicuous by a surrounding fold of skin devoid of hair. The limbs, too, are more 
muscular than those of the Guenons. These peculiarities may be seen on reference to 
the illustration. 
Whether the fault lies with its proprietor, or whether the temper of this Macaque be 
really uncertain, is difficult to say ; but its general disposition when in captivity is rather 
of a snappish and ecrabbed character. Those who have had much to do with the Munga, 
say that it is very capricious, and that its good humour cannot be depended upon, as is 
the case with many domesticated monkeys. 
In its native land, the Munga enjoys exemption from most of the external ills to 
which monkey nature is liable; for, in common with several other species, it is piously 
protected by the natives, on account of its importance in their myriad-deitied religion. 
Not content with permitting these monkeys to devastate his plantations at will, the devout 
Hindoo prepares a home for them in his temple, where they rule supreme, and tolerate 
not the intrusion of any monkeys of another caste. When old, they are of a very high 
caste indeed, according to the Hindoo ideas on the subject. The more fierce and savage 
the monkey, the higher is its caste; and among serpents, the cobra is significantly the 
3rahmin. 
The Ragsus, or BHUNDER MONKEY, is rather a handsome animal in point of colour; the 
usual olive-green and yellow being relieved by warmer tints of a very bright chestnut, 
almost amounting to orange. The back is of a brownish hue, while the lower part of the 
spine and the outside of the thighs is of the warm tint already mentioned. The arms 
and shoulders are lighter, and change to dun below. ‘The eye is of a light brown colour, 
As will be seen in the engraving, the Rhesus is of a short and sturdy make, and looks 
more like an ordinary quadruped than any of the preceding monkeys. ‘The tail, too, is 
very short, and the callosities are very conspicuous; more on account of their ruddy 
colour, than their size. 
For cool impudence and audacity, this monkey stands unrivalled among its congeners ; 
surpassing even the previous animal in both these characteristics. 
So excellent and spirited a description has been given by Captain Johnson, of these 
monkeys in their wild state, that I cannot do better than present his account in his 
own words. 
“At Bindrabun (which name, I imagine, was originally Baunder-bund, literally signi- 
fying a jungle of monkeys), a town only a few miles distant from the holy city of Muttra, 
more than a hundred gardens are well cultivated with all kinds of fruit, solely for the 
support of these animals, which are kept up and maintained by religious endowments 
from rich natives. 
“When I was passing through a street in Bindrabun, an old monkey came down to 
the lower branches of a tree we were going under, and pulled off my Harcarrah’s turban, 
as he was running in front of the palanquin, decamped with it over some houses where it 
was impossible to follow him, and was not again seen. 
“T once resided a mnonth in that town, occupying a large house on the banks of the 
river, belonging to a rich native ; it had no doors, and the monkeys frequently came into 
the room where we were sitting, carrying off bread and other things from the breakfast- 
table. If we were sleeping or sitting in a corner of the room, they would ransack every 
other part. 
“T often feigned sleep, to observe their manceuvres, and the caution with which they 
proceeded to examine everything. I was much amused to see their sagacity and alertness. 
They would often spring twelve or fifteen feet from the house to another, with one, some- 
times two young ones under their bellies, carrying with them also, a loaf of bread, some 
sugar, or other article ; and to have seen the care they always took of their young would 
have been a good lesson to many mothers. 
“JT was one of a party at Teekarry, in the Bahar district ; our tents were pitched in a 
large mango garden, and our horses were picqueted in the same garden at a little distance 
off. When we were at dinner, a Syce came to us, complaining that some of the horses 
had broken loose, in consequence of being frightened by monkeys on the trees ; that, with 
