288 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



of a pasha whose favourite slave tickles his feet. The esteem which 

 he has been able to evoke gives him confidence and dignity of bear- 

 ing; the battles in which he has constantly to take part give him 

 watchfulness, courage, and self-control; the necessity of maintaining 

 his authority develops circumspection, astuteness, and cunning. 

 These qualities are certainly used in the first place for his own 

 advantage, but the rest of the community also benefit by them, and 

 his unchallenged supremacy thus receives some justification and 

 stability. Ruled and guided by him, the herd, though violent storms 

 may rage within it, leads on the whole a very secure, and therefore 

 a comfortable life. 



All monkeys, except the few nocturnal species, are active by day 

 and rest at night. Some time after sunrise they awake from sleep. 

 Their first business is to sun and clean themselves. If the night is 

 cold and inhospitable, they attempt to improve their comfortless 

 couch by thronging together in a heap, or rather a cluster; but are 

 still so cold in the morning that a long sun-bath seems absolutely 

 necessary. As soon as the dew is dry, they leave their sleeping- 

 places, climb to the tree-top or to the highest point of the rock, select 

 a sunny seat, and leisurely turn themselves about on it till every 

 part of their bodies has been exposed to the sun. When the fur is 

 dried and thoroughly warm it is ready for cleaning, and each 

 monkey sets to work eagerly and carefully, or requests and receives 

 from one of his fellows the service which he, in his turn, is always 

 ready to do to others. 



When the fur has been cleaned, and, if necessary, brushed into 

 sleekness, the monkeys begin to think of breakfast. This presents 

 no difficulty, for they refuse nothing that is edible, and a tax is 

 levied on the animal and the vegetable kingdom alike. Forest 

 and mountainous districts afford fruits, leaf and flower buds, birds' 

 nests with eggs or young, snails and grubs; gardens yield fruit and 

 vegetables, fields supply cereals and pulses. Here a ripening ear is 

 broken off, there a juicy fruit is gathered, in the tree a bird's nest 

 is plundered, on the ground a stone is turned over, in a settlement 

 a garden is stripped or a field robbed, and something is carried away 

 from all. If he has time, every single monkey destroys ten times as 



