MONKEYS. 69 



by General Goddart in 11 80, upon its surrender con- 

 tained forty thousand inhabitants, and as many mon- 

 keys. They are even worshipped by the Brahmins, 

 and are raised to the rank of gods. Gorgeous temples 

 are erected, 



" With pious care a mcmkey to enshrine !" 



Mofleus, in his History of India, describes one of great 

 magnificence it was fronted by a portico for receiving 

 victims sacrificed to it, which was supported by no 

 less than 700 columns ; and Linschotten relates, that 

 when the Portuguese plundered one of these monkey 

 palaces, in the island of Ceylon, they found, in a little 

 gold casket, the tooth of an ape ; a relic held by thi 

 natives in such veneration, that they offered seven 

 nundred thousand ducats to redeem it. It was, how- 

 ever, burnt by the Viceroy, to stop the progress of 

 idolatry. Among the ancient Egyptians, they also 

 seem to have been held in more than ordinary reve- 

 rence, or at least to have borne a rank equal to that 

 of the sacred ibis. They were like them represented 

 in the sculptures, and their bodies were preserved as 

 mummies. 



We cannot, however, class under such infatuation, 

 the idea which, even in comparatively modern times, 

 prevailed among men who possessed great learning, 

 and minds at once comprehensive and penetrating ; 

 " that men and monkeys belonged to the same species, 

 and were no otherwise distinguished from each other, 



