Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1890-01-22
INDIAN MONKEYS


|
of India Generally protected and looked
upon as sacred By many Hindoos, it has no
| fear of man, and may Be found in groves
near villages, or even in the village trees, as
commonly as IN the depths of the forest. In
many parts Of India it is common occur
renee to see these monkeys On the roofs Of
| houses. In BenAres, the holy city Of the Him
| docs, they may be seen proving about the
| streets and the temples, and suatching away
with impunity fruits and vegetables from the
baskets of the passers by. They frequently
| pilfer food from the grain dealers shops,
| while the damage they infics on gardens and
| fields renders them so great a Nuisance that
| the inhabitants of the country, although they
| viii not themselves, as a rule, XIII the mon
keys, sometimes beg Europeans to shoot tho
| intruders
The Hanuman Is usually found in groups,
composed of individuals of both sexes, and Of
ali ages: the youngest clinging to their
mothers and being by them, especially
when alarmed An old male, net necessarily
an old bachelor, is occasionally found solitary,
as with so many mammals Sometimes fe-
males with very young offspring keep to-
gether, and temporarily apart from the re-
mainder of the troop to which they belong
different parties of these monkeys, who use
all sorts Il missiles-fruit, branches, clods of
earth, etc.-on these occasions.
There was once a combat between two
groups of Hanun,ans for the possession of a
mango grove. Only the champion males Of
each flock engaged at first, two from the
larger flock, one from the smaller; but after
one of the former had been killed, his throat
IL IL L.
females came to the assistance Of the survivor.
The single champion Of the opposite side was
mortally wounded, and several of the weaker
flock were taken away prisoners by the
others.
Away from villages, the high trees on the
banks Of streams or tanks, and, in parts Of
Central India, rocky hills are the fa~orite
haunts Of these monkeys, who subsist chiefly
on fruit and grain, seed, seedpods. leaves and
young shoots. They are never found at a
great distance from water; many Of them
can swim and dive well. Whether on trees,
on rocks or on the ground, they arc exceed
izgly active. They leap with surprising agiIssy
and precision from branch 30 branch, or from
rock to rock, and when pressed take most
astonishing jumps. They have been seen to
cross from tree to tree-a space of twenty to
thirty feet wide, with perhaps forty to fifty
feet in descent. They can run ON all fours
withconsideFable rakidity, taking long strides
or rather bounds.
Their voice is loud, and Is often heard, es-
pecially in the morning and evening. They
generally utter a loud, joyous, rather musical
Gala HlAd of whoop-when bounding from
tree to tree, and harsh, cultural note, de-
noting alarm or anger. The latter IS the cry
familiar to the tiger hunter, among whose
best friends is the Hanuman. Safely en-
sconced in a lofty tree, or jumping from one
tree to another as the tiger moves, the
monkey, by gesture and cry, points out the
position of his deadly enemy in the bushes or
grass beneath, and swears at him heartily
It is marvellous to observe how these monkeys,
even in the widest forests, where human
beings are rarely seen, appear to recognize
the men as their best friends, at leastas allies
against the tiger.
Indeed, those who have,only seen monkeys
in Europe, and especially in cages, have but
a very imperfect idea of the intelligence, love
of fun and power of mimicry that these ami
mails possess Some Of them are kept tame
in India and other countries, taught to per-
form tricks Of various kinds, and carried
about by jugglers and itinerant nlountebanks
for the amusement Of children and Of grown
up people too. They will initiate the talk,
laugh and gait of everybody they sea, make
faces at the children, and perform all sorts OF
antics, and they seem to enjoy the fun just as
much as the onlookers do They are the in
carnation Of mischief and curiosity, and al
together q most amusing set Of creatures.
But some of them are i'll tempered; and the
older ones, who cannot be trained, areusually
savage.
Others are very quarrelsome, perpetually
screaming and fighting, CT teasing one an
ether-in fact, they behave very much hks
unruly children. Monkeys, in their natural
state, when alarmed, rush through the for
est, shaking the branches violently, and
leaping from tree to tree. But occasion
any the old male stays behind In safe post
of vantage on the top of one Of the highest
trees, where he may be heard uttering his
short deep alarm cry at frequent intervals.
Mr.. Blauford, late of the Indian service,
writes: II was once well scolded from
tree by an old monkey, on the edge of half
deserted clearing in Southern Aracan- 1 had
done nothing to offend his monkeyship, but
he evidently considered me as soInething un-
usual and suspicious"
As mentioned above, In some parts Of In
dia monkeys ere held sacred and protected;
Some Of them are worshiped The ancient
Egyptians are also said to have worshiped
these animals Ram, the ancient Hindoo
hero, Is said, in the SansfIit epics, to have
been aided by monkeys during bis expedition
against Rayan, the abductH Of his wife. An
Indian Rajab, in modern times, procured
two fine monkeys from q place rep0sed for
then, ard rr,arried than af hia carifai with
great poInp and ceremony, spending about
$500 on the smtan nuptials.-London
Graphic.
A Pretty Rauroad Conductor.
"a few days ago I was going out from
Denver, Colo, on the Denver and Bio Grande
railroad" said a veteran conductor to
Memphis Appeal reporter, when / was
thrown in company with a lady who opened
my eyes, conductor as 1 was. she was
petite brunette, who had the vim and man
ner Of what would term manly woman.
Not impuEive and given TO erratic spells, but
purely q woman given by nature TO man
hoods ways This lady was g. conductor on
a branch train tapping our line, and sne was
the first female l ever knew acting IN tina;
capacity
But you must not think she was st ala slow
in meeting ali demands, for while she had her
range and could 20 JUS. 50 far. TO that extent
she did her work superbiy. she collected
fares and punched tickets ike man, bus
when it came to putting some fellow of be
cause Of his failure 70 comply with the re-
quirements Of tie railroad company, it was
her custom to call on man TO do the work
The brakeman On the train was usually pres