The Banded Monk 



desires is close by them, under a wire gauze 

 which I have omitted to veil. No one notices- 

 it. On the floor, the Monks continue to hustle 

 the mattress on which the female lay in the 

 morning; on the chair, they still fumble at 

 the spot where this bedding was first placed. 

 The sun goes down ; the time comes to de- 

 part. Besides, the effluvia of passion are 

 growing fainter, are dispersing. The visitors 

 go away without more ado. Good-bye till 

 to-morrow. 



The following tests tell me that any ma- 

 terial, no matter what, can take the place of 

 the leafy branch, that chance inspiration of 

 mine. Some time in advance, I place the fe- 

 male on a couch of cloth or flannel, of wad- 

 ding or paper. I even subject her to the hard- 

 ship of a camp-bed of wood, glass, marble or 

 metal. All these objects, after a contact of 

 sufficient length, have the same powerful at- 

 traction for the males as the mother Monk 

 herself. They retain this property to a vary- 

 ing extent, according to their nature. The 

 best are wadding, flannel, dust, sand, in short, 

 porous objects. Metals, marble and glass, 

 on the contrary, soon lose their efficacy. 

 Lastly, anything on which the female has 



2QS 



