MONKEYS. 75 



rity whence they have been obtained. Gemelli Car, 

 reri tells us, that the orangs descend from the moun- 

 tains when the fruits are exhausted, where they feed 

 on various shellfish, but particularly on a large species 

 of oyster. " Fearful of putting in their paws, lest 

 the oyster should close and crush them, they insert a 

 stone within the shell, which prevents it from closing, 

 and then drag out their prey and devour it at leisure !" 

 In those districts where cultivation has advanced, 

 they become exceedingly troublesome, and from their 

 numbers do no inconsiderable injury to the foreign 

 husbandman ; an amiable poet thus mentions their 

 depredations among the sugar groves : 



" Destructive, on the upland sugar groves 

 The monkey nation preys ; from rocky heights, 

 In silent parties, they descend by night, 

 And posting watchful sentinels, to warn 

 When hostile steps approach ; with gambols, they 

 Pour o'er the cane grove. Luckless he to whom 

 That land pertains !" 



In like manner, when a remission of watchfulness 

 occurs, do they plunder the maize fields, and rob the 

 orchards of their choicest fruits ; ce they are so impu- 

 dent, that they will come into the gardens and eat such 

 sorts of fruit as grow there," says Knox;* andThunberg 

 relates, that such is the superstitious respect in which 

 the Entellus monkey is held by the natives, that what- 

 ever ravages they may commit, they dare not venture 

 * Knox's Ceylon. 



