28 



QUADRUMANA. MAMMALIA.- 



of metempsychosis, but probably still more to its sup- 

 posed derivation from one of the personages of their 

 mythical history. In the great epic poem of the 

 " Ramayan," which is devoted to the exploits of Rama, 

 an incarnation of Vishuu, that hero contracts an 

 Alliance with Hoonuman, king of the monkeys, in his 

 war with the Rackshasas of Ceylon. Throughout the 

 war Hoonuman plays the principal part, next to Rama 

 himself; but having stolen a mango-tree from a garden 

 in Ceylon for the purpose of giving it to the Hindoos, 

 he was condemned to have his face and hands black- 

 ened, a mark of disgrace which his descendants continue 

 to bear to the present day. According to another 

 account, Hoonuman was condemned to be burned by 

 the giant from whom he stole the mango, but escaped 

 with no greater injury than the singeing of his face and 

 hands. We learn also that Hoonuman endeavoured 

 to set Ceylon on fire, by means of a lighted tar-barrel 

 tied to his tail; but, finding unexpectedly that this 

 appendage was not fire-proof, he hastened to the Him- 

 alayas and dipped it into a lake at the source of the 

 Ganges, which bears the name of Bhunderpouch or 

 " Monkey's tail " to this day. The Hindoos believe 

 that every year a single monkey is sent by his fellows 

 to take his station on the snowy peak of a mountain 

 which rises from the sacred lake, and there keeps watch 

 until he is relieved from his severe duty in the following 



THE DOTJC (Semnopithecus Nemceus). The douc or 

 Cochin China monkey is remarkable in this family for 

 its vivid and varied colours. It has the face naked 

 and yellowish ; the top of the head, and the whole of 

 the back and sides, grey ; the shoulders and thighs, as 

 well as the hands and feet, black ; the arms white ; and 

 the legs deep chestnut. The face is surrounded by 

 white whiskers, and the tail and a patch on the rump 

 are also white, contrasting curiously with the darker 

 fur in the vicinity. 



This beautiful monkey, which attains a height of 

 upwards of four feet, is a native of Cochin China, where 

 it occurs in great abundance in the forests ; but from 

 the little commerce carried on with that country, 

 scarcely anything is known of its habits, and specimens 

 are even rare in our museums. It was long regarded 

 as the type of a distinct genus, characterized by the 

 absence of callosities, which, however, it is now found 

 to possess. The error arose from the circumstance 

 that Buffon, who first described the species, had only a 

 badly-stuffed specimen, in which the skin had been 

 allowed to shrink, so as to conceal the callosities. 



THE BTJDENG (Semnopithecus Maurus} an in- 

 habitant of Java and Sumatra, presents a remarkable 

 contrast to the preceding species in the uniform black 

 colour of its long silky hair. The young animals are 

 reddish-brown. A frill of upright hair runs across the 

 forehead, and the cheeks are adorned with a pair of 

 large pointed whiskers, directed backwards. This 

 species is said by Dr. Horsfield to be exceedingly 

 abundant in the forests of Java, where it lives in the 

 trees, in troops of fifty or more. It would appear, 

 from the statements of the same author, that it is 

 hardly safe to approach them in the forests, not from 

 any danger of an attack, but because the commotion 



produced in the troop by the sight of a man often 

 causes them to break off the dead branches of the trees, 

 which are then precipitated on the spectator. The 

 natives often hunt them for the sake of their fur, when 

 they kill them with sticks and stones. This species is 

 also called Lutung or Lotoiig, especially in Sumatra ; 

 according to Dr. Horsfield its name in Java is Budeng, 

 and another monkey is known as the Lutung, although 

 the budeng is also sometimes called Lutung Itam, 01 

 Black Lutung, the second species being denominated 

 Lutung Mera, or Red Lutung. The latter (S. Pyrrhus) 

 is comparatively rare, and is a great favourite with the 

 natives, who keep it as a pet about their houses. Of 

 the other species of Semuopithecus very little is known ; 

 they are rather numerous, and inhabit the same coun- 

 tries as the preceding. 



THE KAHATT, or PROBOSCIS MONKEY (Nasalis 

 Larvatus), Plate 1, fig. 3. This curious monkey 

 agrees very closely with the Semnopitheci in its 

 general characters, but differs from them in the sin- 

 gular form of the nose, which, in the male especially, 

 looks like an absurd caricature of that prominent and 

 important member in the human countenance. It is 

 principally from this circumstance that the kahau has 

 been regarded as constituting a distinct genus. 



The nose in the male forms a curved fleshy pro- 

 boscis ; in the female it is much smaller, and terminates 

 in a sharp point, from which it slopes directly to the 

 upper lip. The nostrils in both sexes are placed on 

 the inferior surface. The tail, as in the preceding 

 monkeys, is very long ; the hair is of a reddish tawny 

 or chestnut colour all over the body, paler in front ; and 

 the loins in the male are marked with pale spots. The 

 face, which is naked, is described by some authors as 

 of a bluish colour ; but Mr. A. Adams states, that in a 

 live female examined by him it was of a bright brick- 

 dust red. The hair of the chin, neck, and shoulders is 

 longer than that on the other parts of the body, pro- 

 ducing somewhat the appearance of a mane. 



The kahau is a large monkey, the adult males often 

 measuring four feet and a half in height when in an 

 erect posture. It is a native of Borneo, where it lives 

 in numerous troops upon the trees in the neighbourhood 

 of rivers, and is said to move amongst the branches in 

 a more deliberate fashion than most other monkeys. 

 According to the old Dutch naturalist, Wurmb, how- 

 ever, the kahau would appear to exhibit more activity 

 in the morning and evening at least, when, he says, 

 they may be seen " leaping with astonishing force and 

 rapidity from one tree or branch to another, at the dis- 

 tance of fifteen or twenty feet." He adds that the 

 natives will have it, that, when thus occupied, the 

 monkeys hold their noses in their hands, doubtless 

 from a fear lest so ornamental an appendage should 

 meet with some injury ; but this, he says, he has never 

 seen. When disturbed, it emits a short, impatient 

 cry, described by Mr. Adams as something " between 

 a sneeze and a scream, like that of a spoilt and pas- 

 sionate child ;" other accounts compare this cry to the 

 word kahau, whence is derived the name usually applied 

 to the animal. It would appear, however, that its true 

 native name is Banta-jan. It is described as a fierce 

 and violent animal. 



