366 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



On one occasion a number of them were seen to come to the edge 

 of the stream, which separated them from an adjoining island. 

 The stream was quite twenty feet broad. The alacrity they dis- 

 played in devising and carrying out a plan to overcome what 

 appeared to be an unsurmountable obstacle was really wonderful, 

 and is well worth recounting. One of the two largest members of 

 the band firmly attached itself to a bough of a neighbouring 

 tree, and a certain number of the smaller ones linking them- 

 selves to it in succession formed, in less time than it takes to 

 relate, a chain. When this preliminary was completed, the other 

 large monkey attached itself to the end of the chain, and, 

 setting it into a swing with its hands, gradually developed a 

 momentum, which enabled it to grasp the bough of a tree on 

 the opposite bank. Those monkeys, including the very young 

 ones, who so far had remained idle on the bank, quickly passed 

 over the living bridge ; then, at a peculiar signal, which all 

 seemed to understand, the large monkey, who formed the initial 

 link in the chain, released its grasp, and away they swung 

 safely across to the opposite side of the stream. The calcula- 

 tions of these creatures were, I should say, as accurate as if 

 they had been determined by mathematics. They gauged the 

 breadth of the stream, and the exact number of them which it 

 would take to form a chain of sufficient length to stretch across. 

 This incident occurred at a river called the Booj Booja, at a 

 bend known as ' Fiddler's Elbow.' What I have never been 

 able to ascertain is how these creatures manage to cross the 

 broad rivers. They certainly could never swim such distances ; 

 I fancy they must get hold of some floating tree or palm, and so 

 drift until it touches a bank, and then disembark. 



"While in quest of rhino, it is interesting to note how the 

 shikaris can indicate where the animals are to be found in the 

 jungles. One would think that these large, unwieldy creatures 

 would not be difficult to come up with when once their foot- 

 prints were found. But this is not the case. You may come 

 up with them in time, but owing to the very dense forest you 

 will probably pass them at a distance of 100 or 150 yards. The 

 shikaris are really the only persons who can locate them without 

 difficulty. They ignore the footprints, but every now and again 

 you will observe them halt and look up at the tops of the trees. 



