Travels in India 



Part II. 



chief. And you muft here take notice alfo, that the Ape never eats any thing 

 which he does not very well like the fcent of before-hand ; and before he fwal- 

 lows any-thing, he lays up his Magazin againft future hunger 5 filling his bags 

 with provifion, which he keeps till next day. 



I have faid, that the Banians have a particular Veneration for the Ape ; of 

 which I will give you one Example, among many, that I could bring. Being one 

 day at Amadabat, at the Houfe belonging to the Hollanders, a young man of that 

 Nation newly arriv'd to fèrve in the Factory ^ not knowing the cuftom of the 

 Countrey, and feeing a great Ape upon a Tree in the Court, would needs fhew a 

 piece of activity, or rather a trick of youth, to kill the Ape with a fmall Gun. 

 I was at Table then with the D^^-Gommander ; and we no fooner heard the 

 blow, but we heard as foon a loud noife of Banians, that wait upon the Holland- 

 Company, who came to complain bitterly of him that had kill 'd the Ape. They 

 would all have been gone ; fo that the Commander had much ado, and made 

 many excufes before he could appeafe them, and oblige them to ftay. 



In the Neighbourhood about Amadabat, there are a great number of Apes. 

 And this is obfervable, that where there are a great number of thofe Ani- 

 mals, there are very few Crows. For as' foon as they have built their Nefts 

 and laid their Eggs, the Apes get upon the Trees and throw their Eggs to 

 the Ground. One day returning from Agra, and departing out of Amada- 

 bat with the Englijh Prefident, who came hither about fome bufinefs, and was 

 returning to Sural we pafs'd through a little For reft of Trees, call 'd Mangues, 

 (bme four or five Leagues from Amadabat ; there we (aw a vaft number of 

 great Monkeys, male and female, and many of the females holding their young 

 ones in their Arms. We had each of lis our Coach, and the BngUjh Prefi- 

 dent caufing his to ftop, told me he had an excellent and very neat Harque- 

 bufs, that was prefented him by the Governour of Daman , and knowing 

 I could aim well, he deiir'd me to try it, at one of thofe Apes. One of my 

 Servants, who was born in the Country, making me a fign not to venture, 

 I endeavoured to dhTwade the Prefident from his defign ; but it was impof- 

 fible ; fo that I took the Harquebufs , and kill'd a female Monkey, who lay 

 ftretch'd out upon the Boughs, letting her little ones fall to the ground. But 

 it fell our as my Servant had forewarn'd me. For immediately all the 

 Monkeys that were upon the Trees, to the number of fixty, came down in 

 a great fury, to have leap'd into the Prefidents Coach, where they would 

 foon have ftrangled him, had we not prevented them by clofing the Shutters, 

 and had we not had a great number of Servants, that with much ado kept 

 them otf. And though they came not to my Coach, yet I was very much 

 afraid of my felf ; for they purfued the Prefident's Coach above a League, and 

 they were ftout lufty Monkeys. 



From Amadabat to Panjer, coftes 13 

 From Banfer to Mafana, coftes 14 

 From Mafana to Chit four, coftes 14 

 Chitpour is a very good City, (b called by reafon of the great Trade for painted- 

 Calicuts, which are called Chit es : Near whitfi, fome four or five-hundred paces 

 toward the South, there runs a fmall River. Arriving at Chitpour in one of my 

 Voyages, I pitch'd my Tent under two or three Trees at the end of a wide-place 

 neer the Town. A little while after I faw four or five Lions appear, which were 

 brought to be tam'd ; which they told me took them up five or fix months ; and 

 their way to do it, is this : They tye the Lions at twelve paces diftance one from 

 another by the hinder-legs, with a Rope faften'd to a great woodden-ftake (et deep 

 in the ground,with another cord about the neck,which the Mafter holds in his band. 

 Thefe Stakes are planted in the fame Line, and in another Parallel they ftretch out 

 another Cord as long as the (pace,which the bodies of the Lions fo difpos'dofj as I 

 have defcrib'd, take up. The two Cords which hold the Lion ty'd by the two 

 hinder-feet, give him liberty to (bring out as far as that long Cord } which is a 

 mark to thofe that ftand to provoke and incenfe the Lions, by throwing (tones and 

 pieces of wood at them,, not to venture any farther : The people run to (èe the 

 fight, and when the Lion, provok'd, gives a (bring toward the Cord, the Mafter 



holds 



