86 
NATURAL SIS TORY. 
only necessaiy to observe that it is not in existence in the cheek-pouclied division at all. The 
cheeks of the Monkeys with the peculiar stomach, on the other hand, are not pouched, but there is just 
the vestige of a fold or two, which, although of no use, still remains as an evidence of their ancestry 
— for, doubtless, these are descended from those with pouches. The great Anthropomorphous Apes 
have nc cheek-pouches, neither have the American Monkeys ; and, for reasons which will be noticed in 
treating of these last, they have not the complicated stomach of the Old World poucliless. 
The pouchless division of Monkeys with complicated stomachs, and which, of course, have long 
hind limbs, comprehends two genera — the genus Semnopithecus, and the genus Colobus. 
THE SACRED MONKEYS. 
The Semnopitheci, or the Sacred Apes — from a *p.v6s (sacred), and nldriKos (an Ape) — were probably 
known to the Greeks who invaded India under Alexander the Great ; and Ctesias, a Greek writer, 
who was taken prisoner by Artaxerxes of Persia, at the battle of Cunaxa, some 400 years b.c., studied 
them. He was kept for seventeen years at the court of that monarch, and made notes on most 
subjects, and also on the natural history of Persia and India. On his return to Athens he gave the 
world the results of his observation in a book, and in it he treats of two Apes, one of which was 
smaller than the other, and had a very long tail. This was a Semnopithecus, for the genus is espe- 
cially Asiatic ; but the ancients did not discriminate between the long-tailed Apes of Africa and those 
of Asia, but called both Cercopithecus — from KepKos (a tail), and n id-qtcos (Ape). At the present time 
the word Cercopithecus is restricted to the kinds which live in Africa. These differ in their internal 
construction from the Asiatic varieties. 
During the rise of the religion of Brahma, the contemplation of the Creator became singularly 
mixed up with the worship of the created, and many animals became sacred. Hence, when one of 
those wandering restless spirits, Gasparo Balbi by name, started in 1570 from the town of Venice, 
where he was a jeweller, to reach the Indies, and came to the end of his journey, he saw many a long- 
tailed Ape worshipped and petted by his customers. He wandered amidst many a danger — but the people 
were honest then — and reached Aleppo. Then he went by caravan to Bagdad, and got to Old Babylon — 
by the way, “a place perilous for robbers and lions.” Beaching Bagdad, lie embarked for Balsora, and 
reached that place after escaping whirlpools and hot and deadly winds. Thence he went to the citiea 
of St. Thomas, by the Seven Pagodas, in Southern India. Leaving there, and much troubled by 
tigers, he crossed the Ganges and got into Pegu on the Irrawaddy. He admired the Pagodas, or as 
they are there called, “ the Varelles of the gods,” and says that about them are found “tyed many Apes of 
that kind which resemble Mountain Cats, which were called Monkeys ; they keep them very care- 
fully, holding them to be creatures beloved of God, because they have their hands and feet like human 
creatures, and therefore the woods are full of them, for they never take any except for their Varelles 
and statues.” This regard for the Long-tailed Monkey has lasted, and probably is only now diminishing 
under the influence of the rationalistic philosophy of the wicked Europeans, who will not see anything 
holy in an Ape. Certain it is that the follies of Ape- worship were carried on to a wonderful extent, 
and that these creatures have been preserved to the serious detriment of crops, comfort, and 
temper. 
The regard of the natives for them was, and probably is still, sincere, and their boldness — the 
result of immunity from persecution — was discovered very early in the English occupation of India ; for 
Tavernier tells a story of an English “ President,” who asked him to shoot some Monkeys, which were 
amusingly audacious by the river side. He complied, and a female fell dead with her young clinging 
to her. This so enraged the Monkeys that sixty of them descended at once, and had it not been for 
the serving-men, and the carriage being shut up, they would have strangled the “ President.” They 
followed the carriage for many miles. Then we are told about Indian princes spending fortunes in 
the marriage-feasts of Apes ; and of cultivators of the soil being scared away and subjected to all 
sorts of rapine by these holy creatures. All this goes to prove that generations of Hindoos have 
believed in the sacred character of the Monkey, and have placed him in their mythology. 
So Fred. Cuvier, when he wanted a name, termed them Sacred Apes, or Semnopitheci. They have 
been called Slow Apes, but this is quite a misnomer, for when awake, and not tired, they are as full of 
fun, activity, and play, but not as full of malice, as the others. 
