70 APES AND MONKEYS. 



chief one by which these monkeys are distinguished from some closely allied 

 African monkeys. The row of long stiff black hairs seen in our figure, projecting 

 from above the eyebrows of the langurs, is another feature by which these monkeys 

 may be easily recognised. Further, the skulls of all the langurs may be readily 

 distinguished from those of all other monkeys, with the exception of the allied 

 African group mentioned above, by the circumstance that the aperture for the 



THE HANUMAN MONKEY, OR TRUE LANGUR. 



nostrils, which is exceedingly narrow, extends upwards between the sockets for the 

 eyes, instead of stopping at about the level of their lower border. 



Almost the earliest account that we have of the langurs relates to those of 

 Ceylon, and was given in the year 1681 by one Robert Knox, an English seaman, 

 who for nearly twenty years had been a prisoner in that island. Knox says that 

 some of the Singalese monkeys " are as large as our English spaniel dogs, of a 

 darkish-grey colour, and black faces, with great white beards round from ear to 

 ear, which make them show just like old men. They do but little mischief, keeping 



