Asses and Apes, 139 



Nothing more than this ! — for these decayed divinities of 

 an old-world worship, for the green monkey of Ethiopia that 

 had a shrine in every temple in Memphis ; for Thoth, the 

 god of letters ; the moon, the Bacchus of the Nile ; for 

 Pthah, the all-wise pigmy baboon that Hermopolis revered ; 

 for " the wise ones," the sacred monkeys and baboons of 

 Hindostan ; the ourangs, " the wise old men " of IVIalaya ; 

 for the creatures that the Sanskrit renders as the sun, the 

 insignia of Arjuna, the dread son of Indra; for Sugrivas, 

 prince of the baboons and Balin the snow-white ape ; for the 

 great "pluvial monkey" — delicious beast — that Gubernatis is 

 so wise about ; for the " Lords " of the Benares temples ; for 

 the lineal posterity of Hanuman himself ! Was ever a more 

 tremendous monkey, ape, or man, than the long-tailed friend 

 of Rama ? How magnificent his flight across Asia ! The 

 rivers in their courses turned, the trees on the hills tore 

 themselves up by their roots, the mountains themselves 

 swayed over, to follow in the fierce rush of the current 

 made by his passage ! And then, was ever tail greased, 

 before or since, to such momentous purpose as when 

 Hanuman let the Philistines of Ceylon grease his, thinking, 

 poor dupes, that the strength would go out of him thereby : 

 and then, rising Samson-like, he sets his own tail ablaze, 

 and, rushing through the royal city of Lanka, fires it in 

 every quarter, and from a neighbouring peak surveys, in 

 the tranquil complacency of accomplished revenge, the pro- 

 disrious conflagration ! 



