Connecticut western news., 1885-08-12
A AMONKEY-INFESTED CITY.
The "City of the Gods," where
 Apes are Sacred.
Twenty Thousand of Them Allowed to
 Roam at Will Through the Town


 would That such an undertaking, however, should ever have been sug- gested to Board of Directors is a curious incident in railroad history, yet 1t is a fact. The Brahmans of Benares, anxious to get rid of several thousand superhuous monkeys, asked the company to carry them away for them to distant spot. but the rail- road authorities showed no enthusiasm in closing with the offer of such multitude of singular passengers. It Is a matter of common knowledge that in Benares, the "City of the Gods" there is very large aLd very sacred colony of monkeys. Not only have they temple, properly furnish ed with shrines and priests, specially dedicated to them, but they are free of all the others besides. In Benares they can go where they like, and, although this liberty is qualified by certain measure of respectful opposi- tion when they abuse their privileges too outrageously, the monkeys are vir- tually free of the whole city, private dwellings and public buildings. Thus circumstanced, with every favorable condition for longevity in individuals and fecundity in the species, it is no wonder that the four-handed folk have become redundant. Even the Brahmans themselves have at last confessed that there are too many monkeys in Benares, and are now try ing to rid themselves of portion of the intolerable burden of the sanctity which such host of reverend quadru- peds imposes upon them. The com mon people, in spite of the sacredness of the creatures, have long ago begun to think that so large population of idlers has its unsatisfactory side, and, when we recollect that monkey will every day eat and waste as much grain or fruit as an average Hindu re- quires for his weekly sustenance, and that the mischief in which these crea- lures pass their ttme-having nothing else, poor bored divinities, to do-must entail a substantial appreciable loss upon their human tellow-citizens, 1t is not difficult to sympathize with the ape-ridden men and women of the Holy City. Without contributing in any way to the material welfare of the sacred place, these animals, twen- ty thousand or so, constitute very serious tax upon the working pobula- tion and divert from other charities a vast quantity of good food. Each handful of grain which a monkey wastes would suffice for the meal of a mendicant fakir. At last, therefore, it has been decided to take steps to reduce the tailed population. The monkey, however, is at all times an intelligent person. He knows as well as any body else when he Is well off. In Benares he is especially contented. Plenty of good water, unlimited vege- tables, fruit and grain, delightfully."- shady hooks, verandas. temple corri- dors, etc, commend themselves to him as acombination of attractions not to be easily matched elsewhere, so that he scouts all suggestions of emigra- tion. Once or twice the pious and benevolent old Rajah has invited tht four-handed hosts to come across the river from the city to his Palace oi Ramnuggur, and the priests have actually ferried boat-load after boat. load from one bank of the Ganges tc the other. But the monkeys pretend. ed to misunderstood the arrangement
 They affected to think the trip a mer' outing-a days picnic. So, thougl they allowed themselves to be taker over in the morning with the utmos
 complacency, they always insisted oI
 being brought back again in the even
 ing. Boats ply in large numbers upoI
 the river, and, without asking for per
 mission or offering to pay any thing
 they used to ship themselves as pas
 sengers and return to sleep in the city
 On another occasion certain lands {
 short distance off were specially SC
 apart by the princely Rajah for thei
 maintenance, and an immense numbe
 of the animals were respectfully con
 ducted to their new quarters anC
 invited to settle there. But no; tn,
 monkeys found there were no sweet
 meat stalls in the fields, no cake-shop
 in the groves, and they courteously
 yet firmly, declined the Rajah's proi fered hospitality, and came strollini
 back into the city at their leisure They had tasted the pleasures of rural life, and deliberately arrived a
 the conclusion that they preferre
 those of the town; so they gave up tn cornfelds and the mango trees for tn cool courts of the many-templed city
 and the bazaars where lollipops wer
 always to be had for the stealing. Tn present effort, however, this of deport ing by train to such a distance as Sal l arunpore such a large number a [ 10000, Is by far the most serious tha has been made, and if the four-hande , ones submit to be deported this tim l they must make up their minds fc , permanent exile. Railway compar l ies have no superstitions about HanI