164 SPORTING AND 



rider, he was a wealthy native. You can 

 generally, in India, tell the length of a 

 man's purse by the state of his plumpness ; 

 and, judging in this way, of my new 

 companion, he must have been a regular 

 Crcesus as far as riches went. He told 

 me he was the owner of a great deal of 

 land in the neighbourhood, and that he 

 was then collecting his rent. He also 

 informed me that monkeys abounded in 

 the district to such an extent that they 

 were quite a scourge to the inhabitants 

 in the adjacent villages ; and if they were 

 not killed, or driven off, that his tenants 

 would be ; as these pests would destroy all 

 the crops when they were ripe, and carry 

 away the corn into the thickest parts of 

 the jungle, where it was impossible to 

 follow them. Their daring was such that 

 they actually attacked a village where one 



