Chap. I.] MONKEYS. 129 



are five species, four of whicli belong to one group, the 

 Wanderoos, and the other is the httle graceful grimacing 

 rilaica^, which is the universal pet and favourite, of both 

 natives and Europeans, 



Knox, in his captivating account of the island, gives 

 an accurate description of both ; the Eilawas, with 

 "no beards, white faces, and long hair on the top of 

 their heads, which parteth and hangeth do^vn hke a 

 man's, and whicli do a deal of mischief to the corn, 

 and are so impudent that they will come into their 

 gardens, and eat such fruit as grows there. And the 

 Wanderoos, some as large as our Enghsh Spaniel dogs, 

 of a darkish grey colour, and black faces with great 

 white beards round from ear to ear, which makes them 

 shew just hke old men. This sort does but little mis- 

 chief, keeping in the woods, eating only leaves and 

 buds of trees, but when they are catched they will eat 

 anything." ^ 



Knox, whose experience was confined almost ex- 

 clusively to the hill country around Kandy, spoke in 

 all probabiHty of one large and comparatively powerful 

 species, Presbytes ursimis, which inhabits the lofty 

 forests, and which, as well as another of the same 

 group, P. Thersites, was, tiU recently, unknown to 

 European naturahsts. The Singhalese word Ouanderu 

 has a generic sense, and being in every respect the 

 equivalent for our own term of " monkey," it necessarily 

 comprehends the low country species, as well as those 

 which inhabit other parts of the island. And, in point 

 of fact, in the island there are no less than four animals, 

 each of wliich is entitled to the name of " wanderoo."^ 



* Macacus pileatus, Shaw and 

 Desmmarest. The "bonneted Ma- 

 caque" is common in the south and 

 west ; and a spectacled monkey is 

 said to inhabit the low country near 

 to Bintenne ; but I have never seen 

 one brought thence. A paper by 

 Dr. Templeton, in the Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. n. s. xiv. p. 301, contains some 



VOL. I. K 



interesting facts relative to the Ri- 

 lawa of Ceylon. 



^ IvJs'OX, Historical Relation of Cey- 

 lon, an Island in the East Indies. — 

 P. i. ch. vi. p. 25. Fol. Lond. 1681. 



^ Down to a very late period, a 

 large and somewhat repulsive-look- 

 ing monkey, common to the Malabar 

 coast, the Silenus veter, Linn., was, 



