i>64 



M O N K E Y. 



and numerous specimens being forwarded to Europe 

 by M. Diard, more satisfactory accounts of it were 

 obtained. From these it appears that the animal 

 actually has callosities on the buttocks, though to 

 cursory observation these are concealed by the long 

 hair on the parts. Indeed it does not appear that 

 there is any good reason for making a separate genus, 

 or even subgenus, of this animal, though it is unques- 

 tionably a well-marked and very peculiar species. 

 Its height when standing on the tarsi is about two 

 feet ; and the tail, which is rather slender, is about 

 the same length as the body and head. From the 

 accounts it should seem that, though this species 

 keeps much in the covers of those natural forests 

 which overrun every part, not immediately in cultiva- 

 tion, of the lands which it inhabits, it is far from being 

 rare in these, while its geographical distribution is 

 more extended than that of many others of the orien- 

 tal monkeys. If it could be introduced in the living 

 state, and kept alive, it would be the best show mon- 

 key of all the race ; because it is a monkey ready 

 dressed, and would not require that fantastic apparel 

 in which these animals are sometimes tricked out, in 

 order the more forcibly to attract the vulgar gaze. 



The Proboscis Monkey or Kahall (S. nasica}. From 

 the extraordinary production of the nose, standing 

 out from the line of the face like a great beak, this 

 animal has been made the type of a genus under the 

 nante of Nasals; but it is doubtful whether the struc- 

 ture of the nose, curious as it is, warrants the separa- 

 tion of it from the semnopitheci, with which it agrees 

 in its more active and important organisation. The 

 face of this monkey bears a considerable resemblance, 

 in all respects except colour, to that which exhibitors 

 give to the standing hero of street pantomime, the 

 venerable and far-famed Punch. Whether the mon- 

 key or the mime has the more grotesque visage is a 

 point not worth determining ; but the monkey cer- 

 tainly has a supply of nose worthy of the immortal 

 pen of Slaukenbergius himself, and doubtless has been 

 at the promontory of noses. When the animal stands 

 at its greatest height, elevated on the hind feet, it 

 does not exceed three feet, and yet the nose stands 

 lull four inches out from the line of the face, and the 

 chin also is pointed. The nostrils are in the under 

 part of this curious proboscis near its extremity, and 

 of an oval form. The face is black, with a bluish 

 tinge, and distinctly marked off by the different 

 colours of the forehead and cheeks ; and the yellowish- 

 brown irides of the eyes and large white teeth con- 

 spire with the other features and the colour in giving 

 by no means an agreeable aspect to the animal. 

 The upper part of the face is deep red, which extends 

 both over and under the ears, so that only a portion 

 of thorn appears ; and the chin and cheeks have a 

 beard of pale yellowish red, curling upwards on the 

 former, and backwards and outwards on the latter. 

 The general colour of the body is reddish-brown ; 

 but it has numerous markings, which, in their general 

 distribution, bear some resemblance to those on the 

 Cochin-China monkey, only the smaller markings are 

 more numerous. The breast and belly are slightly 

 tinged with grey, with a bright bar across the mamma?. 

 The arms to the elbow-joints are bright reddish, with' 

 a cross bar of bright colour near the shoulder, resem- 

 bling the stripes worn by non-commissioned officers 

 of the army. From the elbows to the nails the arms 

 and hands are yellowish-brown, with the naked palms 

 bluish black, the same as the face. There are various 



markings of pale colour on the lower part of the 

 back ; and a portion of the lower part of the body 

 and the tail are pale yellowish-brown. The hind legs 

 are nearly the same colour as the arms, but the hair on 

 the thighs is shaggy, and has a mixture of blackish- 

 grey among the brown. 



Some of the characters of this species are not very 

 well made out ; but it is said to make a slight 

 approach to the gibbons or long-armed apes in the 

 length of the arms ; and also to the howling monkeys 

 of America in the bone of the tongue and the guttural 

 sac. 



Another species, or, more strictly speaking, speci- 

 men, with a much shorter proboscis, has been brought 

 from the same country as the long-nosed one ; but 

 the probability is that it is the young in a state of 

 partial development. The island of Borneo is under- 

 stood to be the head-quarters of these very singular 

 monkeys; and we are not aware that any of them 

 have been hitherto found in any other place even ok 

 the east. Now Borneo, though the largest of all the 

 eastern islands, is the one with which we have by far 

 the least acquaintance, and what we know of its 

 natural history is mostly at second hand, and not 

 always from authorities upon which we can place 

 dependence, and therefore we must receive with some 

 caution the accounts which are given of its produc- 

 tions. The monkeys under description are described 

 as being gregarious, and as collecting each other 

 together by loud cries resembling the word kaliau, 

 which is the name given to them in their native land. 

 Their times of general meeting are said to be before 

 sunrise and at sunset, which accords with the colour 

 of their eyes as nocturnal or twilight animals. Their 

 places of rendezvous are the trees near the banks of 

 the rivers and streams, among which they move about 

 with great activity, jumping with ease eighteen or 

 twenty feet from branch to branch, or from tree to 

 tree. 



The Gilded Monkey (S. auratus). This species i* 

 not known, except from museum specimens. It is 

 about two feet in length, and the tail about as much. 

 The whole fur is of a bright golden red, with the 

 exception of a black spot on each knee ; but the 

 belly is almost bare of fur. The anterior fingers 

 have fur down to the second phalanx, and the hind 

 ones to the roots of the nails. Its characters are 

 decidedly those of the order ; and it is presumed 

 that some of its manners at least correspond, though 

 nothing is known with certainty about it. It is un- 

 derstood as being a native of the Molucca Islands ; 

 but even on this point we have no certain information. 



There are several other species, or rather single 

 specimens, described by authors ; but, generally speak- 

 ing, their appearances are not well made out from 

 the mutilated skins which have been brought to 

 Europe, and eagerly purchased by collectors without 

 much inquiry as to where they came from, or what 

 were their habits in their native land. It appears, 

 however, that the whole of the semnopitheci are in- 

 habitants of the south-east of Asia and the adjacent 

 islands, the islands being their head-quarters. From 

 those which we have enumerated it will readily be 

 seen that those oriental islands are completely a 

 monkey's country, and the same may be said of apes 

 properly so called, with the exception of the chim- 

 pansee, which is wholly African, and better adapted 

 for walking than the orans and gibbons of the oriental 

 woods. There is indeed a regular gradation in these 



