56 THE MONKEY TRIBE 



Many amusing stories are told of these monkeys, of which 

 one must suffice. One night a sentry was suddenly roused 

 to a sense of imminent peril : the Rock was in danger of 

 being lost to the British Empire. Just before the dawn he 

 became aware of a strange figure from which came most 

 puzzling metallic sounds. Receiving no reply to his 

 stentorian challenge, the sentry fired at the dimly outlined 

 figure and dropped it in its tracks. The garrison sprang to 

 the call, the guard turned out, only to find a poor Magot in 

 its death-agony. The creature had broken into one of the 

 kitchens and had put its head into a cooking utensil, from 

 which it was unable to withdraw it. In its struggles to get 

 rid of its unwelcome headgear the ape happened upon the 

 sentry, to fill his mind with instant fear of some dark scheme 

 to rob us of one of our most cherished possessions. 



WANDEROO (Macacus silenus). 

 Plate III. Fig. 2. 



A remarkable species is the Wanderoo, which the Ceylon- 

 ese call Nil Bhunder, i.e., Black Monkey, on account of 

 the colour of its long fur. On the top of its head the hair 

 is particularly long, falling on either side of its face like 

 the full-dress wig of a judge. It also possesses a long grey 

 beard, so that it has quite a venerable aspect. Unlike the 

 other Macaques, it has a tuft of hair on the end of its tail, 

 much like that of a lion. The Wanderoo is furnished with 

 cheek pouches of considerable size ; and probably the 

 rapidity with which it feeds is due to the fact that it is 

 storing away a portion of its food for future use. The 

 animal stands quite thirty inches high, weighs as much as 

 80 Ibs., and is possessed of considerable muscular power. 



YELLOW BABOON (Cynocephalus babuin). 

 Coloured Plate II. Fig. 3. 



Of all the monkey tribe, none are more brutal, ferocious, 

 or disgusting than the Baboons, which are large African 

 apes, two or three feet in length, and about the same in 



