THE MAGOT. 



S3 



their chattering and breaking off the dry branches in leaping about, the rest would also 

 get loose, if they were not driven away. 



" As soon as dinner was over, I went out with my gun to drive them off, and I fired 

 with small shot at one of them, which instantly ran down to the lowest branch of the 

 tree, as if he were going to fly at me, stopped suddenly, and coolly put its paw to the 

 part wounded, covered with blood, and held it out for me to see ; I was so much hurt 

 at the time, that it has left an impression never to be effaced, and I have never since 

 fired a gun at any of the tribe. 



" Almost immediately on my return to the party, before I had fully described what 

 hrad passed, a Syce came to inform us that the monkey was dead; we ordered the Syce 

 to bring it to us, but by the time he returned, the other monkeys had carried the dead 

 one off, and none of them could anywhere be seen. 



" I have been informed by a gentleman of great respectability, on whose veracity I 

 can rely (as he is not the least given to relating wonderful stories), that in the district 

 of Cooch-Bahar, a very large tract of land is actually considered by the inhabitants to 

 belong to a tribe of monkeys inhabiting the hills near it ; and when the natives cut their 



BONNET MACAQUE.-jWaca/s S/oAws. 



RHESUS. Macacus Rhesus. 



different kinds of .grain, they always leave about a tenth part piled in heaps for the 

 monkeys. And as soon as their portion is marked out, they come down from the hills 

 in a large body, and carry all that is allotted for them to the hills, storing it under and 

 between rocks, in such a manner as to prevent vermin from destroying it. 



" On this grain they chiefly live ; and the natives assert, that if they were not to 

 have their due portion, in another year they would not allow a single grain to become 

 ripe, but would destroy it when green. In this account, perhaps, superstition has 

 its full influence." 



The natives are nearly as careful of the Rhesus, as of the Hoonuman itself ; and 

 take sanguinary revenge on any one who wounds or kills one of these animals. On 

 one occasion, two officers, together with their servant, lost their lives in a popular 

 tumult caused by the death of a monkey, at which they had thoughtlessly fired. But 

 although the monkeys may not be hurt, and are allowed to plunder the crops at their 

 own sweet will, the Hindoo cultivators are by no means pleased to see their fields so 

 often devastated, and would willingly preserve them from the depredators in spite of 

 their divine, though thievish character.- 



