THE RHESUS, OR BHVNDER. 



47 



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 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. 



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RHESUS, OK BHUNDER MONKEY. -Mamcus rhesus. 



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

 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 lulls near it ; and when the natives cut their 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 lulls, storing it under and between rocks, in such a manner as to 

 prevent vermin from destroying it. 



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

 due proportion, 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 Hoonu'man 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 



