1G8 



This handsome monkey is found on the Neilgherry Hills, the 

 Auamallays, Pulneys, the Wynaad, and all the higher parts of the 

 range of ghauts as low as Travancore. It does not, as far as I 

 have observed, descend lower than from 2,500 to 3,000 feet. It is 

 shy and wary, and does not affect the neighbourhood of man. It 

 is, or used to be, very abundant in the dense woods of the Neil- 

 gherries, the fui; is fine and glossy, and is much prized." 



At page 5 of these notes, I begged sportsmen to abstain from 

 shooting monkeys. I certainly never do so, not having forgotten 

 the human-like actions of a large " inuus rhesus" or Bengal mon- 

 key which I was persuaded to shoot ; but if an exception may be 

 made, it should be in honor of the beautiful fur of the black Neil- 

 gherry laugoors. Their flesh is moreover excellent food for dogs ; 

 at times a grand desideratum to a sportsman wandering over these 

 hills and unable to procure meat of any kind, unless when for his 

 servants, or his dogs, he is obliged, contrary to all his better and 

 more sportsmen-like instincts, to slay a hind, or a stag in soft horn, 

 therefore unfit to shoot. 



At page 4 of these notes, I have mentioned an instance of a large 

 snake having killed a black monkey, probably of this species or 

 perhaps the " Malabar Langoor" Within the last few days I 

 have come upon the following extract of a most interesting letter 

 upon snakes sent to the South of India Observer of the 27th 

 May 1869, by my friend Hawkeye, who says : " A correspondent 

 in the Field of the 27th March 1869, treats with ridicule the idea 

 of a snake with a " head as large as a tiger's," but seen when in the 

 act of swallowing its prey, we can well imagine the appearance 

 assuming such dimensions. I have fallen in with the rock-snake* 

 both large and comparatively small, several times in my wanderings 

 in the land of the sun. I saw the skin of a good sized one, twelve 

 feet, I think, that was killed at Courtallum in Tinnevelly, under the 

 following circumstances. A friend of mine was staying at that 

 charming retreat the most delightful one in all Southern India to 

 my mind for the period the season lasts, i. e., from June to Septem- 

 \ )Q Y t w hen one day the gardener came running in hot haste to 

 announce that a big snake had caught a monkey ; out rushed my 

 friend, armed with a spear, and there in the garden at the foot of 



