70 QUADRUMAXA. 



the hills, storing it under and between rocks, in such a manner as to 

 prevent vermin from dcstroving it. 



" On this grain they chiefly live ; and the natives assert, that if they 

 were not to have their due proportion, in another year they would not 

 allow a single grain to become ripe, but would destroy it when green. 

 Jn this account, perhaps superstition has its full influence." 



C)t course Europeans do not acquiesc • in tlie ravages of these apes 

 with the equanimity or kindliness of the Hindoos. It is almost impossible 

 to keep a garden when these divinities are about. To shoot them would 

 provoke a riot and lead to murder as it often has done; to set a guard is 

 useless, for the apes driven oft' on one side return on the other ; hres, 

 scarecrows and the like do not in the least intimidate them. 



One Englishman succeeded in keeping the nioiikevs awav from his 

 plantation lor more than two vears, without using anv violence, or 

 oflending the prejudices of the natives. 



He had planted a patch of sugar-canes, and preserved his growing 

 crops from elephants, swine, deer, and other animals bv means of a deep 

 trench surrounding the cane-patch, and a strong palisading of bamboos 

 just within the ditch. But the monkcvs cared nothing tor moat or 

 wall, and carried otT wliole canes in their hands, eating them com- 

 placently as they proceeded to the shelter of the trees. 



For a long time this state of things continued, and the planter was 

 doomed to see the rijiening canes devoured in his ver)- presence, and 

 the chewed fragments spit in his face bv the robbers. This last insult 

 proved too great a strain for his patience to endure, and after some 

 thought, he hit upon a stratagem which answered even beyond his 

 expectation. 



He chased a flock of the monkevs into a tree, which he then felled ; 

 and bv the help of his assistants, captured a number of the voung, which 

 he conveyed home. He then mixed some treacle with as much tartar- 

 emetic as could be spared from the store, and after painting all the )-oung 

 monkevs with this treacherous mixture set them at liberty. The parents 

 ran to embrace tlicir returned ofi'spring, and carried them oft" to a place 

 of safetv. There the first care of the elders was to clean the soiled coats 

 of the little ones, bv licking off the mixture with wiiich they were 

 smeared. The treacle delighted them, and grunts of satisfaction testified 

 to the pleasure thev felt. But onlv for a time : the tartar-emetic soon 

 began to work, and reduced the apes to a piteous condition. After this 



