XXVII 
CONCLUSION 
359 
gleaning upon his roof, and improving the arrange¬ 
ment of his tiles. 
These wretched animals entirely destroy the 
fruit. I have seen large tamarind trees left com¬ 
pletely bare. It is astonishing how they can eat 
the unripe tamarind pod, as the acid is intense ; but 
they munch this with avidity. They also eat the 
leaves. 
When the mangoes change their foliage in 
March, the various tints of colouring are most 
beautiful. Some varieties burst forth in a vivid 
green, others dark ; some will be a bright copper 
colour, and a few deep purple. The monkeys then 
delight to eat the young foliage, and in some cases 
nearly strip the tree. When the mango fruit is 
swelling in late April, but still unripe, it is dreadful 
to see the utter destruction entailed by a large troop 
of monkeys. It is not what they actually consume, 
but the immense quantity which they spoil, by 
recklessly biting hundreds and thousands of unripe 
fruit, and throwing them, discarded, upon the 
ground. 
The flying fox ( Pteropus ) is also a great enemy 
of the fruit trees. This large bat is frugivorous, but 
also an insect - eater. Although its habits are 
nocturnal, it exposes itself during the day by roosting 
in many thousands together upon certain large 
trees. 
I have seen tamarind trees the size of our largest 
oaks so completely covered with many thousands 
of these creatures suspended head downwards by 
