504 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



the leafy solitude to a great distance, and is sometimes responded 

 to from the depths of the forest by another note as wild and 

 melanchol3^ 



Besides tlie uran and the gibbons, Asia exclusively possesses 

 the Semnopitheci and the Macaques, while Africa, besides the 

 chimpanzee and the gorilla, enjoys the undivided honour of 

 giving birth to the families of the Cercopitheci, Mangabeys, 

 Colobi, Magots, and Baboons. 



The Semnopitheci are characterised by a short face, rounded 

 ears, a slender body, short thumbs, and a strong muscular tail, 

 terminated by a close tuft of hair, and surpassing in length 

 that of all the other quadrumana of the Old World. To this 

 genus belongs the celebrated Proboscis Monkey (Semnopithecus 

 nasicus) of Borneo, who is distinguished from all other simise 

 by the possession of a prominent nasal organ, which lends a 

 highly ludicrous expression to the melancholy aspect of his phy- 

 siognomy, ' When excited and angry,' says Mr. Adams, who 

 had many opportunities of examining this singular creature in 

 its native woods, ' the female resembles some tanned and peevish 

 hag, snarling and shrewish. They progress on all-fours, and 

 sometimes, while on the ground, raise themselves upright and 

 look about them. When they sleep, they squat on their hams, 

 and bow their heads upon the breast. When disturbed, they 

 utter a short impatient cry, between a sneeze and a scream, like 

 that of a spoilt and passionate child; and in the selection of their 

 food they appear very dainty, frequently destroying a fruit, and 

 hardly tasting it. When they emit their peculiar wheezing or 

 hissing sound, they avert and wrinkle the nose, and open the 

 mouth wdde. In the male, the nose is a curved, tubular trunk, 

 large, pendulous, and fleshy ; but in the female it is smaller, 

 recurved, and not caruncular.' 



Under the ugly form of the FCuniman (^Seninopithecus Entel- 

 las), the Hindoos venerate the transformed hero who abstracted 

 the sweet fruit of the mango from the garden of a giant in 

 Ceylon, and enriched India wdth the costly gift. Out of 

 gratitude for this service, the Hindoos allow him the free use of 

 their gardens, and take great care to protect him from sacri- 

 legious Europeans. While the French naturalist Duvaucel was 

 at Chandernagor, a guard of pious Brahmins was busy scaring 

 away the sacred animals with cymbals and drums, lest tlie 



