78 
VERTEBRATA. 
M. DUVAUCEL SHOOTING MONKEYS IN INDIA. 
be. no question that they had either some business or pleasure on hana; and the fact of each 
carrying a stick, led us to conclude that it was the former upon which they Avere bent. Their 
destination was, like ours, evidently Deobund, where there are some hundreds of monkeys fed by 
a number of Brahmins, who live near a Hindoo temple there, and perform religious ceremonies. 
They — this monkey regiment — ^^N^ould not get out of the road on our account, nor disturb them- 
selves in any way ; and my friend was afraid to drive through their ranks, or over any of them, 
for when assailed they are most ferocious brutes, and armed as they were, and in such numbers, 
they could have annihilated us Avith the greatest ease. There was no help for us, therefore, but 
to let the mare proceed at a Avalk in the rear of the tribe, the members of Avhich, now that we 
Avere nearing Deobund, began to chatter frightfully. Just before we came to the bungaloAv, they 
left the road and took the direction of the temple. Fain would we have followed them, but to do 
so in the buggy Avould have been impossible, for they crossed over some A^ery rough ground and 
two ditches. My friend, therefore, requested the soAvars to follow them, and report all they might 
observe of their actions. MeanAvhilo, we moved off to the bungaloAv ; on arriving at which, Ave men- 
tioned to the proprietor, a very old but active and intelligent man, the sight Ave had seen on the 
road — the regiment of monkeys. 
" 'Ah !' exclaimed the old man, ' it is about tlie time. 
" ' What time ?' 
" 'Well, Sahib, about every five years that tribe comes up the country to pay a visit to this 
place ; and another tribe comes about the same time from the up-country — the hills. They meet 
in a jungle behind the old Hindoo temple, and tkere embrace each other as thougb they Avere 
human beings and old friends Avho had been parted for a length of time. I have seen in that 
jungle as many as four or five thousand. The Brahmins say that one large tribe comes all the 
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