Arizona silver belt., 1894-07-14
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An Ediaoo Where Long qaiied ouadruped


 An Ediace Where Long Tailed ouadrupeda | Live Free From Interference.
 Among the thousand or more temples i and shrines with which the holy Hindoe ! city of Benares is endowed, visitors gen
 orally find the great temple dedicated to ! the worship of the goddess Durga one of | the most interesting, It is known 10 Europeans as the monkey temple, be- cause in and around it's precincts many i hundreds of sacred monkeys roam about without interference. The temple is sit
 mated in the southern extremity of the
 tity. It was erected during the last cen l tury by the Rance Bhawani of Natre, in
 honor of Siyas wife, the terrific god
 tess who is supposed to delight in death
 and slaughter, and of whom the poor be- lievers in the various attributes Of the deities comprising the Hindoo pantheon
 stand in the greatest dread. A core
 spondent of the London Graphic writes
 as follows regarding the place,
 "The Durga Kund is conspicuous in ] this city of temples for the grace and
 simplicity of it's architecture, It adjoins
 tank which is the finest in Benares
 and occupies the central portion of ! quadrangle, the walls being stained red ! with ocher, The sacred portion of the
 temple consists of l2 finely carved pill
 lars standing on a marble platform and
 supporting heavy roof The platform
 is about four feet from the ground and
 is ascended by flight of low steps on
 each side of the square. The temple is
 well provided with the necessary instru- ments for creating the frightful noises | which emanate from these abodes of
 idolatry all tper India Drums of huge
 dimensions, gongs, bells and tomtoms | are all at the service of the priests in | performing the rites required of them 1 But the antics of the monkeys which make this temple their home are, next
 to it's architecture, the most attractive
 feature of tie place.
 "The goats blood with which tho walls
 are sprinkled and the sacrifices that are ! known Co take place here to appease the
 wrath of eiva and his terrifying spouse
 are rather revoltiug to Christian, but
 the grotesque play of the monkeys, their
 importunate begging, the pranks they
 enact on one another and the graceful l agility they are constantly displaying
 supply perpetual source of amusement
 which one is apt to think must prove
 rather distracting to the devout Hndoos 1 who come here to worship. These sa- cred monkeys are of the genus Semno. 1 pethecus entellus, popularly known as ] the long tailed Indian monkey.
 "A few years ago, as no one dared to l molest these animals, they not only in- creased rapidly in numbers, but, grow ing to extraordinarily bold, developed | alarming thieying propensities. The
 annoyance they caused amounted fc a | public nuisance, for no house in the ! place was safe from their depredaticns
 At last the trouble grew so serious ttet
 some reduction in the number of these adept thieves became necessity, al-
 though the prejudices of the people were l against any such steps being taken. In
 tue end the government was requested | to interfere, and waiving aside all other
 considerations but that of public polity
 the authorities had many hundreds-re- l port says many housands-captured 1 and sent away. Nevertheless there are ! plenty of them left, and they certainly | constitute one of the sights of city
 that is probably in many respects the
 most interesting in the world,