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NATURAL HISTORY. 
smoking away to his heart’s content, and ruminating concerning prospective customers and profits. 
The Monkey still had patience, and amused himself with his fieas, and had a good and general scratch ; 
and he was rewarded, for suddenly the confectioner arose from his seat, took his pipe, and turned 
towards the back dooi* for a fresh supply of tobacco. Instantly the Bhunder was on all-fours, and the 
sweetmeats were before him and behind their owner. In another moment he had jumped off the 
roof, cleared the street, and was on the board which was crowded with sugar -plums. He of course 
began to cram as many as possible into his cheek-pouches. But, alas for the spoiler, there were other 
pilferers there in the shape of hornets ; his sudden descent frightened them, and they flew off, but 
returned on the instant, and to take vengeance. Before he could regain his roof they were all round 
him, stinging here and stinging there with great zeal and passion. His efforts at getting away from 
them were frantic, and he scrambled over the rotten roof, displacing the tiles, which came down with a 
crash ; and at last, when he jumped clear of the enraged insects, he came on to a sharp, thorny bush, 
from which he could not extricate himself. He had to spit all the nice things out of his pouches, and, 
screaming with pain — for the thorns were more like fish-hooks than anything else — he sat a picture of 
misery, barking hoarsely now and then. The fall of the tiles brought out a crowd of natives, and they 
were speedily joined by the confectioner, full of revenge. But the culprit was a Monkey, and, there- 
fore, an object of veneration ; so a couple of Hindoos managed to rescue him, and he limped off as well 
as he could to a neighbouring grove. 
The Hindoos tell many tales of the sagacity ot this Monkey ; and there is one which may be 
taken as a specimen, although it has been filtered through Mahomedan pages. A fakir had a Monkey 
which he had brought up from birth. He loved it, and travelled here and there, taking much care of 
it. In return the Monkey behaved like a watch-dog, and was most faithful and watchful. It 
amused the fakir by its endless tricks and mimicry. One day, the fakir placed his carpet in a square 
before the palace of some great shah who had nothing to do, and who looked at the fakir and the 
Monkey with great delight. The fakir had made a pie; there were some pieces of birds’ flesh in it, and 
it was placed on some lighted charcoal to be cooked. The Monkey sat watching, and the fakir thought 
he would like a stroll until dinner was ready, knowing that his faithful follower would look after the 
cooking. But the shah saw more than the fakir ; for, after a while, the smell of the meat came strongly 
into the Monkey’s nostrils, and he began to feel hungry. Soon he was very hungry, and then he just 
lifted up the edge of the crust, and could not refrain from taking a tiny bit — just a little leg. This was 
so nice that lie took a little more, and finally eat all. The crust was left on the grass, and then the 
sinner suddenly remembered his master. The shah was in ecstasies, wondering what would come 
next. After due consideration, the Monkey remembered that he usually sat on a very beautiful flesh- 
coloured u callosity,” and he had noticed that several Crows and other birds had been hovering about 
whilst he consumed his master’s dinner. He instantly feigned to be dead, and hiding his head, gave 
the birds the benefit of the scarlet appearance. One came down instantly with a swoop ; but the 
Monkey was too quick, and the bird was seized and strangled in an instant. Rapidly plucking oft the 
feathers, the Monkey pulled it to pieces, and put it in the pie, and sat looking happy, contented, and 
extremely virtuous. The shah was struck with this wonderful display of instinct, and the story goes 
on to say that he promoted the fakir to an important post under government. 
There is a Macaque which, instead of having the quiet brown and olive tints of the others, with 
short tails, is of a dark oily black colour. It is called 
THE MO OK MONKEY.* 
It lives in Borneo, and is about eighteen inches in length. It has a fiat nose, with nostrils 
opening well outwards, and the eyes are hazel, the pupils being very large. The length of the bones of 
the tail is not enough to carry it beyond the callosities, which are of a roseate hue. 
When young the skull is short, and there is no great projection over the eye ; but with age the 
upper part of the face becomes very square, and the eyebrow ridges grow. Now, this gloomy-looking 
Monkey offers some points of interest, for there is another one, called the Booted Monkey (Macacus 
’ ocreatus), which cannot be distinguished from it when both are young. With age, however, the last- 
# Macacus Maurus. 
