52 THE RHESUS, OR BHUNDER. 



is shorter. The callosities are well marked, and in some instances are rendered more 

 conspicuous by a surrounding fold of skin devoid of hair. The limbs, too, are more 

 muscular than those of the Guenons. These peculiarities may be seen on reference to 

 the illustration. 



Whether the fault lies with its proprietor, or whether the temper of this Macaque be 

 really uncertain, is difficult to say ; but its general disposition when in captivity is 

 rather of a snappish and crabbed character. Those who have had much to do with the 

 Munga, say that it is very capricious, and that its good humor cannot be depended 

 upon, as is the case with many domesticated monkeys. 



In its native land, the Munga enjoys exemption from most of the external ills to 

 which monkey nature is liable ; for, in common with several other species, it is piously 

 protected by the natives, on account of its importance in their myriad-deitied religion. 

 Not content with permitting these monkeys to devastate his plantations at will, the 

 devout Hindoo prepares a home for them in his temple, where they rule supreme, and 

 tolerate not the intrusion of any monkeys of another caste. When old, they are of a 

 very high caste indeed, according to the Hindoo ideas on the subject. The more fierce 

 and savage the monkey, the higher is its caste ; and among serpents, the cobra is signif- 

 icantly the Brahmin. 



The RHESUS, or BHUNDER MONKEY, is rather a handsome animal in point of color ; 

 the usual olive-green and yellow being 'relieved by warmer tints of a very bright chest- 

 nut, almost amounting to orange. The back is of a brownish hue, while the lower part 

 of the spine and the outside of the thighs is of the warm tint already mentioned. The 

 arms and shoulders are lighter, and change to dun below. The eye is of a light brown 

 color. 



As will be seen in the engraving, the Rhesus is of a short and sturdy make, and looks 

 more like an ordinary quadruped than any of the preceding monkeys. The tail, too, is 

 very short, and the callosities are very conspicuous ; more on account of their ruddy 

 color, than their size. 



For cool impudence and audacity, this monkey stands unrivalled among its congeners ; 

 surpassing even the previous animal in both these characteristics. 



So excellent and spirited a description has been given by Captain Johnson, of these 

 monkeys in their wild state, that I cannot do better than present his account in his own 

 words. 



" At Bindrabun (which name, I imagine, was originally Baunder-bund, literally signi- 

 fying a jungle of monkeys), a town only a few miles distant from the holy city of Muttra, 

 more than a hundred gardens are well cultivated with all kinds of fruit, solely for the 

 support of these animals, which are kept up and maintained by religious endowments 

 from rich natives. 



" When I was passing through a street in Bindrabun, an old monkey came down to 

 the lower branches of a tree we were going under, and pulled off my Harcarrah's tur- 

 ban, as he was running in front of the palanquin, decamped with it over some houses 

 where it was impossible to follow him, and was not again seen. 



" I once resided a month in that town, occupying a large house on the banks of the 

 river, belonging to a rich native ; it had no doors, and the monkeys frequently came into 

 the room where we were sitting, carrying off bread and other things from the breakfast- 

 table. If we were sleeping or sitting in a corner of the room, they would ransack every 

 other part. 



" I often feigned sleep, to observe their manoeuvres, and the caution with which they 

 proceeded to examine everything. I was much amused to see their sagacity and alert- 

 ness. They would often spring twelve or fifteen feet from the house to another, with 

 one, sometimes two young ones under their bellies, carrying with them also, a loaf of 

 bread, some sugar, or other article ; and to have seen the care they always took of 

 their young would have been a good lesson to many mothers. 



" I was one of a party at Teekarry, in the Bahar district ; our tents were pitched in a 

 large mango garden, and our horses were picketed in the same garden at a little distance 

 off. When we were at dinner, a Syce came to us, complaining that some of the horses 

 had broken loose, in consequence of being frightened by monkeys on the trees ; that with 



