268 CHEAP REVENGE. 



occupy the houses in common with the inhabitants, and are 

 described by a late traveller as to be seen by dozens playing on 

 the flat roofs, or perched with much gravity at the open veran- 

 dahs, to observe the passing crowd." 



The natives of India express their veneration for this Monkey 

 in a variety of ways. There is a superstition common amongst 

 them that any one dwelling on a spot where a Hoonuman has 

 been killed, will be sure to die : its bones even are believed to be 

 unlucky ; and it is said that no house erected on the land where 

 any of its bones lie concealed can prosper. Hence when a house 

 is to be built, the greatest care is taken to ascertain whether any 

 of these ill-omened bones are concealed in the neighbourhood. 

 Guarded so carefully when alive, and dreaded so much when dead, 

 it is no wonder that the Hoonuman is extremely abundant and 

 seldom comes to harm. The rarity with which one of these 

 animals is seen dead is expressed by a common proverb, to the 

 effect that "He who has seen a white crow, the nest of a 

 paddy bird, a straight cocoa-nut tree, or a dead Monkey, is 

 certain to live for ever." 



It will readily be believed that Europeans, having no very 

 pious regard for Monkeys, find the Hoonuman a rather trouble- 

 some guest, and sometimes receive his unwelcome visits in a 

 manner which a regard for their own safety prompts them care- 

 fully to conceal from native eyes. It would seem, however, that 

 the Hindoos themselves are by no means averse to employing the 

 Hoonuman as a means of working out their evil purposes upon 

 each other. In Dhuboy, where it is said there are as many 

 Monkeys as human inhabitants, if a man wishes to avenge him- 

 self on his neighbour for any insult or injury, he takes the 

 opportunity, just before the periodical rains set in, of repairing to 

 the offender's roof, and scatters over it a quantity of rice or other 

 grain. This is soon discovered by the Monkeys, who not only 

 devour it, but pull up all the tiles in search of what has fallen 

 through the crevices. At this critical juncture the rains com- 

 mence, and as no one can be found to re-set the tiles, the house 

 is deluged, and the unfortunate occupier effectually punished. 



Next in order to the Slow Monkeys, and constituting the 

 lowest division of the Apes, come the Gibbons, chiefly dis- 

 tinguished by their slenderness of form, and by the great length 

 of their arms, whence, indeed, they are commonly known as the 



