140 



ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



claims, rising at last to yells that must have been heard 

 in the distant river-plantations, for, soon after, a dep- 

 utation of bungalow-baboons came hastening up the 

 rocks, and joined in the chorus before they could pos- 

 sibly have ascertained the cause of the uproar. Boys, 

 too, appeared on the scene ; and when a fortissimo yell 

 in the tree-top was answered by a shout from the village, 

 the doctor himself advised the dhevadar to open the 

 gate. 



In another mahakhund, devoted to " honumans and 

 pious and continent paupers," the guests, under a simi- 

 lar provocation, behaved with more dignity, though they, 

 too, evinced a disposition to wreak their ill-humor upon 

 the naughty youngsters. But toward low-caste animals 

 the honumans show all the intolerance of the bhunder- 

 baboon ; sucking pigs coming within reach of their long 

 arms are often grabbed and flung through the air with 

 a suddenness that leaves the squealer no time for a pro- 

 test till he lands sprawling on the other side of the fence. 

 In hospitals for promiscuous animals race-prejudices are, 

 of course, out of place, and under such circumstances 

 even the honuman communes with his fellow-monkeys 

 on more familiar terms, and often behaves with great 

 kindness, still, however, with a certain condescension, 

 like a Church-of-England divine in the presence of dis- 

 senting ministers. 



And the record of his caste seems to justify such pre- 

 tensions. When Ravan, the Prince of Darkness, made 



