THE MONKIES« 85 



Such Is their propensity to thieving, that, not 

 contented with the plenty that Nature afford? them 

 in the woods, they seldom fail to steal from houses 

 or gardens whatever they are able to carry away. 

 When any of them perceive a child with bread or 

 fruit in its hand, they immediately run up, frighten 

 it, and take away its food. If a woman is drying 

 grain in the sun, which in India is very coirimon, 

 she will sometimes find difficulty in beating them 

 off. Some of th.em skip round and pretend to steal ; 

 and tiie moment she runs to strike them, the otliers, 

 watching the opportunity, fall too and seize the 

 grain with all the address imaginable. 



M. D'Obsonville has seen Monkies cauo'ht, 

 cunning as they are, by a very simple contrivance. 

 The man employed chose a place near their haunts, 

 and fastened a copper vessel, with a mouth about 

 two inches in diameter, to the foot of a tree ; then, 

 after scattering some grains, removed to a distance. 

 These were soon devoured, and he brought more. 

 The third time he was more bountiful of his gmin, 

 especially around and within the pot, in which there 

 v/ere placed fixed five or running knots, cro:ising 

 each other in different directions. He had scarcely 

 hidden himself before several Monkics and their 

 young ran to try who should get first. Th.ey liad 

 ■ soon emptied the vessel, but their han(is v^'ere 

 caught. Tiie man approached before they had 

 time to hberate themselves, threw a carpet over them, 

 and thus took two females and their young *. 



D'Obsonville, 3«0. 



G3 



