THE RHESUS, OR BHUNDER. 47 
When we were at dinner, a Syce came to ns, 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. 
.RHESUS, OR BHUNDER MONKEY . — Macacus 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 hills 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 hills, storing it under and between rocks, in such a manner as to 
prevent vermin from destroying it. 
“ On this grain they chiefly live ; 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 Bhesus, as of the Hoonuman 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 
