THE MACAQUES 119 



noon, and a strong southwest wind carried it up the slope of the cliff. . . . The 

 monkeys seemed in great distress while the fire was raging, and a full-grown one 

 was missed afterwards, but several births kept up the total. In the spring of 1875 

 the troop consisted of six full-grown females and two large males, with several 

 young ones. One of the males was very mangy, had a bowed back, and appeared 

 very old ; the other, a full-grown powerful monkey, I should judge to be nearly 3 

 feet long in the body, and standing nearly 5 feet high when stretched up. He 

 was lord of the tribe, kept it in order by chasing or biting any refractory member, 

 and took the lead when shifting from one side of the rock to the other, which they 

 usually did a few hours before the wind changed. I missed the large male on 

 August yth, 1875, and in the beginning of September he was found dead.' The 

 death of this monkey seems to have been a serious blow to the community, for writ- 

 ing again on the last day of 1877 Sergeant Brown says, ' There are now four very 

 large adult females, four younger and rather smaller, four females and one 

 male of middle size, probably four years old, and five small ones just entering on 

 their third year. I think there are four females and one male, but am not certain 

 yet. There have been no births since 1875. They still travel together from place 

 to place, but straggle more, and seem to squabble more among themselves since the 

 old male died. ' 



"In a letter, May 3rd, 1880, the sergeant says, ' The monkeys are all doing 

 well ; the young male born in 1874 is now master of the troop. There were four 

 young ones last spring, two of which had about an inch rudiment of tail. I expect 

 seven or eight births this summer. One large female was found by a laborer on 

 May 2oth, 1879, looking very sick; he gave it some coffee, but it died ; its breasts 

 were full of milk, and it had probably just given birth to a young one, which was 

 not found. Last July I saw two full-grown females, each with a young one ; they 

 sat down close to each other on the path, and were chattering and examining one 

 another's young, when the male monkey came and sat down between them, and all 

 three were chattering away together for several minutes. Through the summer 

 the male was nearly always carrying one or the other of the young ones. ' 



"Sometimes a fight occurs among the monkeys, when it is surprising to witness 

 the rapidity with which they will follow an offender down the stupendous precipice 

 of the eastern face ; tumbling one after another, and catching at bits of bush or 

 projecting ledges on their way, they descend hundreds of feet in a moment or two. 

 Sometimes the sergeant dresses wounds on them, probably from this cause, but they 

 soon heal up." 



In captivity the magot, at least during youth, is lively, active, intelligent, and 

 good-tempered ; but with advancing years it becomes sullen and capricious, and 

 finally spiteful and capricious. The French naturalist, Frederic Cuvier, observes 

 that the natural instinct, which causes these monkeys when in a wild condition to 

 associate together in troops, leads solitary individuals in confinement to make 

 friends of such animals as they are thrown in contact with. Such animals, if suf- 

 ficiently small, are carried about by the magots, who express their satisfaction by 

 hugging and caressing their burdens, and become furious when any attempts are 

 made to remove them. 



