28 Quadeumana. MAMMALIA. Simiad^,. 
of metempsychosis, but probably still more to its sup- 
posed derivation from one of the personages of their 
mythical history. In the great epic poem of the 
“ Hamayan,” which is devoted to the exploits of Rama, 
an incarnation of Vishnu, that hero contracts an 
alliance with Hoonuman, king of the monkeys, in his 
war with the Rackshasas of Ceylon. Throughout the 
war Hoonuman plays the principal part, next to Rama 
himself ; but having stolen a mango-tree from a garden 
in Ceylon for the purpose of giving it to the Hindoos, 
he was condemned to have his face and hands black- 
ened, a mark of disgrace which his descendants continue 
to hear to the present day. According to another 
account, Hoonuman was condemned to be burned by 
.he giant from whom he stole the mango, but escaped 
with no greater injury than the singeing of his face and 
hands. We learn also that Hoonuman endeavoured 
to set Ce 3 don on fire, by means of a lighted tar-barrel 
tied to his tail ; but, finding unexpectedly that this 
appendage was not fire-proof, he hastened to the Him- 
alayas and dipped it into a lake at the source of the 
Ganges, which bears the name of Bhimderpouch or 
“ Monkey's tail " to this day. The Hindoos believe 
that every year a single monkey is sent by his fellows 
to take his station on the snowy peak of a mountain 
which rises from the sacred lake, and there keeps watch 
until he is relieved from his severe duty in the following 
season. 
THE DOUC {Semnointhecm Nemmus). — The douc or 
Cochin China monkey is remarkable in this family for 
its vivid and varied colours. It has the face naked 
and yellowish ; the top of the head, and the whole of 
the back and sides, grey ; the shoulders and thighs, as 
well as the hands and feet, black ; the arms white ; and 
the legs deep chestnut. The face is surrounded by 
white whiskers, and the tail and a patch on the rump 
are also white, contrasting curiously with the darker 
fur in the vicinit 3 ^ 
This beautiful monkey, which attains a height of 
upwards of four feet, is a native of Cochin China, where 
it occurs in great abundance in the forests ; but from 
the little commerce carried on with that country, 
scarcely anything is known of its habits, and specimens 
are even rare in our museums. It was long regarded 
as the type of a distinct genus, characterized by the 
absence of callosities, which, however, it is now found 
to possess. The error arose from the circumstance 
that Buffon, who first described the species, had onl}' a 
badly-stuffed specimen, in which the skin had been 
allowed to shrink, so as to conceal the callosities. 
THE BUDENG — [Semnopithecus Maurus) — an in- 
habitant of Java and Sumatra, presents a remarkable 
contrast to the preceding species in the uniform black 
colour of its long silky hair. The j'oung animals are 
reddish-brown. A frill of upright hair runs across the 
forehead, and the cheeks are adorned with a pair of 
large pointed whiskers, directed backwards. This 
species is said by Ur. Horsfield to be exceedingly 
abundant in the forests of Java, where it lives in the 
trees, in troops of fifty or more. It would appear, 
from the statements of the same author, that it is 
hardly safe to approach tliem in the forests, not from 
an}' danger of an attack, but because the commotion 
produced in the troop by the sight of a man often 
causes them to break off the dead branches of the trees, 
which are then precipitated on the spectator. The 
natives often hunt them for the sake of their fur, when 
they kill them with sticks and stones. This species is 
also called Lutung or Lotong, especially in Sumatra; 
according to Dr. Horsfield its name in Java is Budeng, 
and another monkey is known as the Lutung, although 
the budeng is also sometimes called Lutung Ltam, or 
Black Lutung, the second species being denominated 
Lutung Mera, or Red Lutung. The latter {S. Pyrrhus) 
is comparatively rare, and is a great favourite with the 
natives, who keep it as a pet about their houses. Of 
the other species of Semnopithecus very little is known ; 
they are rather numerous, and inhabit the same coun- 
tries as the preceding. 
THE KAHAU, or PROBOSCIS Monkey {Nasalis 
Larvatus), — Plate 1, fig. 3. — This curious monkey 
agrees very closely with the Semnopitheci in its 
general characters, but differs from them in the sin- 
gular form of the nose, which, in the male especially, 
looks like an absurd caricature of that prominent and 
important member in the human countenance. It is 
principally from this circumstance that the kahau has 
been regarded as constituting a distinct genus. 
The nose in the male Jorms a curved fleshy pro- 
boscis ; in the female it is much smaller, and terminates 
in a sharp point, from which it slopes directly to the 
upper lip. The nostrils in both sexes are placed on 
the inferior surface. The tail, as in the preceding 
monkeys, is very long ; the hair is of a reddish tawny 
or chestnut colour all over the body, paler in front; and 
the loins in the male are marked with pale spots. The 
face, which is naked, is described by some authors as 
of a bluish colour; but Mr. A. Adams states, that in a 
live female examined by him it was of a bright brick- 
dust red. The hair of the chin, neck, and shoulders is 
longer than that on the other parts of the body, pro- 
ducing somewhat the appearance of a mane. 
The kahau is a large monkey, the adult males often 
measuring four feet and a half in height when in an 
erect posture. It is a native of Borneo, where it lives 
in numerous troops upon the trees in the neighbourhood 
of rivers, and is said to move amongst the branches in 
a more deliberate fashion than most other monkeys. 
According to the old Dutch naturalist, Wurmb, how- 
ever, the kahau would appear to exhibit more activity 
in the morning and evening at least, when, he says, 
they may be seen “leaping with astonishing force and 
rapidity from one tree or branch to another, at the dis- 
tance of fifteen or twenty feet.” He adds that the 
natives will have it, that, when thus occupied, the 
monkeys hold their noses in their hands, doubtless 
from a fear lest so ornamental an appendage should 
meet with some injury ; but this, he says, he has never 
seen. When disturbed, it emits a short, impatient 
cry, described by Mr. Adams as something “ between 
a sneeze and a scream, like that of a spoilt and pas- 
sionate child ;” other accounts compare this cry to the 
word kahau, whence is derived the name usually applied 
to the animal. It would appear, however, that its true 
native name is Banta-jan. It is described as a fierce 
and violent animal. 
