Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-18
A SHOWER OF MONKEYS.
THEY POUR OUT or THE TREES
OF AN INDIAN FOREST.


Make Almost Amy Man Quake in His
Roots Surrounded by an Army of
Threatening simians.
In India, the paradise of monkeys, they
are held in high honor because of the
aid which their king, Hanooman in the
days of old, )" gave to the God Rama, when
to rescue his wife, Sta, he invaded Ceylon,
Hanooman helpingto bridge the strait.
Duty had taken me to Dharmsala, hill
station considerably west of Simla. On
the return journey turned off the main
road at Kangra, an ancient fortress, named
by Runjeet Singh ''tbe key of the Punjab,"
though utterly incapable Of standing a
weeks siege from civilized army.
The main road passes through dense
wood not 100 yards from this house, which
was more than half mile away from the
nearest part of town From the road a
narrow avenue had been cut among the
trees to small clearance around the house,
otherwise it was buried in the wood.
Sauntering under these trees ! suddenly
become conscious of noises in the branches
above me. l looked up and about, but
though the branches stirred and the leaves
moved, / could see nothing. l was not,
however, long left in doubt or speculation,
A monkey, a large male dropped from a
branch to the ground at q distance of about
thirty feet In front Of me. AS he reached
the ground he squatted on his heels, rest
ing his hands on his knees and gazing fix
eddy and soleinnly at me. His gravity up
set mine. Then near him another monkey
dropped down; q third and a fourth fol
lowed 1t began to rain monkeys. In tens,
in scores, in hundreds; old, middle aged
and young; large and small; males and fe-
males-many of the latter carrying babies,
some on their backs, others in their arms
kept dropping from the trees around me.
was standing under a mighty giant of
the forest; and against its trunk, some five
feet in diameter, l set my back, as the
monkeys in their hundreds squatted down
in an irregular semicircle around.
SURROUNDED BY HUNDREDS.
At some distance beyond, several young
monkey urchins, which preferred play to
curiosity, kept suspending themselves from
the branches in long living chains, holding
ON to each others hands or tails, and swing
ing themselves pendulum wise to and fro
They were not the small puny creatures
generally seen in European menageries
but the real genuine Indian Hanooman, OF
which race the large and strong males
stand, when erect, fully four feet in height
They were many SUCH. among Others OF
smaller size, in the crowd around me.
1t had not taken threS minutes to form
that semicircle of monkeys, They had
come down as thick as a shower Of hail
stones; but so softly and gently had they
descended to the grass and leaf covered
ground that scarcely any noise had been
made For short time they sat motion
less and silent, staring hard at me; and a
baby monkey, having made a noise was in
stantly smacked by its mother in most
human fashion. They looked at me- Their
at each other, and again at me; and ther
they began to chatter-frst one, then few
| together, then many at once, finally all in
u chorus. They talked, chartered jabbered
| discussed argued, shouted and yelled; ges-
ticulating meanwhile, making faces and
| grinning.
The laughter with which had greeted
| the first of my visitors died very sudden
| death, for my curiosity to watch their be
| havior did not prevent my realizing The
| fact that was not in very safe position
Here l was, unarmed, nothing but light
riding whip in my hand, surrounded by
| hundreds of monkeys, to which my white
| face and European dress were evidently
objects Of as much aversion as curiosity
| Natives they did not mind, but Europeans
they seemed to regard with the hatred dut
| to intruders.
THE CIRCLE GROWS SMALLER.
| fully realized my danger but continued
calm and collected, and reasoned the posi-
ton out myself. The only chance of safety
was to remain quietly against this friendly
tree, silently observing the monkeys, care
| full to give no offense or provocation
watchful to give them no advantage ovel
me, till the return of the caretaker or som'
other chance came to my aid. Had l at
tempted to strike them, or to brighter
them, or to break through them, or to fee
from them, / have not the slightest doub
that should not now be writing this &C
count. Their enormous numbers woulC
have emboldened them to any act.
should have been quite helpless in thei
grasp-would, indeed, have been pounceC
upon by scores of them, overpowered, bit
ten and torn to pieces. So, making vir
tue of necessity, l kept up bold front
watched, waited and prayed.
In one of the intervals of silence thu
great monkey that had first arrived anC
that seemed to be one of the leaders, sud
denly hoped nearer to me-two feet or so
His action was Immediately initiated BY
all the monkeys forming the front row o
the semicircle, while those behind closeC
up as before, and the semicircle contracted
around me by two feet in the radius. Nor
chattering and gesticulating followed
more growing and grinning, with inter
walls of silence. They had a great deal t.
say, and they all said it, and it was abou
me, too; for they frequently pointed at nj
with their hands and snarled and gnashet
their teeth at me. Again they contracted
the semicircle as before. And so they KEEP
gradually coming nearer and nearer, an,
growing more and more excited.
But my deliverance was at hand. In tn
midst of one of their most noisy discus
sions, they one and all became suddenl
silent and perfectly still. They seemed t.
be listening attentively. / listened, toe
but at first could catch no sound anywhere
the stiffness of death was all around, 70
even the young monkeys had ceased thei
tricks What could have disturbed an,
silenced the noisy throngp Or what di'
they now propose? Next from afar OF
came the loud cry of a monkey-evidentl
the warning call Of a scout on outpos
, duty. Then, first family from afar AM
then gradually nearer and louder, came
, down the -aain road through the wood, tn
/. welcome sound of the chatter of horse
hoofs at a swift walking pace. This it wa
, which their quicker ears had detected lon
before / had heard 1t. They kept thei
ground for few moments more, but thei
I attention was now evidently divided bt
) tween me and the approaching horse
Again, and nearer, the scouts cry sounde
through the wood. There was an immed
nna and oil fha ,,,oYE ax