THE DOG-SHAPED MONKEYS (_continued_). THE MACAQUES.[49]
Their Description and Anatomy, and its reference to that
of the Semnopitheci and Guenons--THE COMMON MACAQUE--Its
Character--Appropriateness of the Name--Occasionally an Albino--THE
ROUND-FACED MACAQUE--Found in China--Ideas of the Chinese about
them--THE TOQUE, OR BONNET MONKEY--THE BHUNDER--Described by
Cuvier--Their Thieving Propensities--Hindoo Tales of their
Sagacity--THE MOOR MONKEY--BELANGER’S MONKEY--THE PIG-TAILED
MACAQUE--THE MAGOT--One of the Commonest Monkeys--Described
by Galen--Early Notices of--Predatory Habits--Abundant at
Gibraltar--Probably came over from Africa--Similarity to the
Baboons--THE WANDEROO--Account of one in the Zoological Society’s
Collection--Geographical range of the Macaques.
The next group of Monkeys differs much from the lively dwellers amongst
the woods and trees, which have been described, and the kinds contained
in it are evidently suited for running quickly on all-fours, and more
on the ground than amongst the branches. They are not so much like the
Dog in shape as are the Baboons, which will be described next, but
still they are, as it were, between these and the Guenons in their
habits and construction. They have longer muzzles than the Guenons,
but not so long as the Baboons, and the nostrils open high up and
obliquely. Their eyes are overshadowed by a prominent brow-ridge, which
gives an air of cunning not seen in the playful Guenons, and also a
look of fierceness and of mistrust; and, in fact, the old ones look
anything but amiable. Their limbs are stout and compactly made, and
they display great strength and width in the shoulders. The hind limbs
are, however, longer than the front ones, and the hands and feet are
well made, the latter being long and having a large heel. But what
strikes the observer, when he sees drawings or stuffed specimens of the
whole group before him, is the difference in the length of the tail in
different species. Some have long tails, others have very small ones,
and one in particular has not one at all. Those with tails used to be
placed in one genus, and those without them in another; and the first
were called Macaques (_Macacus_), the others being Inui[50] (_Inuus_).
But the close agreement of the other parts of the body, notwithstanding
the length or absence of the tail, coupled with the fact that it is not
used in climbing or in balancing, determined naturalists to rely but
little upon that member in this group, and to join those with tails and
without tails in one genus, called _Macacus_.
Those with long tails, the _Macacus cynomolgus_, for instance, cause
the group to resemble the Guenons; or, in other words, link and ally
the two genera, it being difficult in the case of this Monkey to say to
which one it should belong. On the other hand, the Barbary Ape, which
managed to get to Gibraltar and live there in some numbers, and which
has but the very stump of a tail, connects the whole group, or genus,
with the Baboons without tails. Then there is one with a fine head of
hair, and a long snout (_Macacus Silenus_), which lives in Malabar, and
which has a longish tufted tail; and it links some Baboons with long
tails to the group now being described.
The Macaques live in India, Tibet, North and South China, Japan, and
southwards, and in some of the great islands of the Archipelago,
Formosa, in Africa, in Barbary, but not south of the Atlas range, and
in Europe, on the Rock of Gibraltar.
They all have cheek-pouches and callous pads, or callosities, on their
seat, and thus resemble the Guenons; moreover, most of them have
throat or laryngeal sacs, which open into the membrane above the vocal
organ and below the base of the tongue (in the thyroid membrane).
On examining their jaws it will be noticed that there is the same
number of teeth as in the other Monkeys already described, and that the
upper eye or canine tooth on each side is very strong and long. Now,
these teeth are not for killing or stopping living prey, although their
possessors do not hesitate to snap up a good-sized Beetle, a small
Lizard, or even a Frog, but they make, with the first false grinder
of the lower jaw, a capital nut-opener. The canine, when the mouth is
shut, fits just in front of this tooth, which is usually called the
first pre-molar, and which is pressed back and made to slant in the jaw
by the constant pressure and movements of the canine. The back of the
canine is sharp, and comes in contact with the equally sharp edge of
the slanted pre-molar below, so that when a nut comes between the two
it is cut and crushed at the same time. The canine does not thus fit
into a diastema, or vacant space, but is of great use to the animal.
This arrangement is interesting, because it produces a distortion
of the front back teeth of the lower jaw for a definite and useful
purpose: it is noticed in some of the Guenons, and is particularly seen
in mouths of the great Baboons, which will be noticed further on.
The other back teeth resemble somewhat those of the Guenons, but the
last one of the lower jaw has five cusps, or prominences, on it.
All these Monkeys going very readily on all-fours have several
interesting modifications of the structures observed in the climbing
Monkeys, but of course their general construction is the same. They
have not, however, the pouched stomachs of the Semnopithecus, and their
nearest resemblance is to the African Guenons.
Like all the Monkeys which are lower in the animal scale than the
great man-shaped Apes, the Macaques have narrow wrists, long linger
bones, and a short and backwardly-placed thumb. There are nine bones
in the wrist. The hip-and haunch-bones are long, and the first are
hollowed out, and their direction refers to the method of progression
on all-fours, and their general appearance is rather that noticed in
the regular four-footed beast of prey, and they differ much in breadth
relatively to those of man.
The length of the tail depends upon the number of the tail-pieces, or
vertebra, and upon their size. In the Gibraltar Ape there are only
three of these caudal vertebræ, but in the Bhunder there are fifteen
and sometimes eighteen in the tail, which measures nine inches, whilst
in the Pig-tailed Inuus there are seventeen. It appears that some
of the long-tailed kinds have no more vertebræ than the others, but
that the diminished length is due to their shortening. The long and
middle-sized tailed kinds have chevron-or Y-shaped bones under the
tail, and the nature of these has been explained already.
Living upon a great variety of food, and using their jaws with
rapidity, these Monkeys are furnished with a curious modification of a
muscle, which exists in man and the higher Apes. There is in these a
muscle on each side of the throat, which draws the chin down, or, in
other words, helps to open the mouth. It is called the two-bellied, or
digastricus muscle, as it has two muscular masses--one attached to the
lower jaw, and the other to the lump of bone behind the ear--and they
are united by a thin tendon. This tendon is attached to the side of the
bone at the base of the tongue, or os hyoides, and it passes through
a loop of a muscle which passes from the ear-bone (_styloid process_)
to the os hyoides. The muscle acts as follows:--When the mouth is to
be opened after swallowing, the base of the tongue-bone is pulled down
by a muscle which comes from the breast-bone to it, and then the front
belly, or muscle of the digastricus, pulls from the base of the tongue
against the lower jaw and drags it open. But when the muscle relaxes,
and the jaw is shut preparatory to swallowing, the digastricus begins
to assist in this operation. In swallowing, the base of the tongue is
drawn upwards towards the roof of the mouth, and the back and front
bellies of the muscle now under consideration drag on their fixed
tendon, and straighten, so as to assist in this.
In the Macaques, this tendon is replaced by muscular bands, and greater
vigour is given to the muscle, so that the jaw is pulled at more
rapidly, and the tongue is elevated with energy.
As there is a greater power given in drawing up the tongue in the
first stage of swallowing, there must be something extra to pull it
down again in the second stage, for in this the back of the throat,
the gullet, and the back of the tongue are all brought from above to
a lower level. This is arranged by a modification of a muscle, which
in man and the Chimpanzee, for instance, stretches from the top of
the bladebone, across the lower part of the neck, to the bone at the
base of the tongue (the _omo-hyoid_ muscle). It has also two bellies
in man, or, in other words, the muscular fibres are attached to the
bladebone and to the hyoid bone, and there is an intermediate tendon;
moreover, this passes through a pulley, so that the obliquely-placed
muscle in the lower part of the neck acts straight upon the tongue,
and pulls it down in a right line. In the Macaques, this muscle has no
central tendon, and the muscular fibres pass all the distance from the
bladebone to the os hyoides at the base of the tongue.
[Illustration: COMMON MACAQUE.]
In addition to these modifications where muscle replaces tendon, there
are those of several other muscles which act on the tongue, the larynx,
and on the upper and lower parts of the windpipe, their conjoined
action being to approximate all these parts. These muscles, which are
separate in man, are united in one in the Macaques.
The head of these Monkeys, hanging as it does when they go on
all-fours, requires extra support, and one of the muscles of the back,
which from its square shape is called the rhomb-shaped muscle, is
especially attached to the occiput, and helps to hold the head up.
Another assistant in the movement on all-fours is a muscle which pulls
the bladebone forwards when the animal is walking. It springs from the
outer processes of the upper bones of the neck (transverse process
of the upper cervical vertebræ), and is attached to the spine of the
bladebone. This muscle is seen in the great beasts of prey also, and
in the Semnopitheci and Guenons. A similar “wild-beast” peculiarity
exists in the arrangement of the muscles of the hand; the muscle which
extends the little finger and opens it is divided, and has greater
connections with the fourth finger than in man. The long muscle which
extends the thumb, and the short one which draws it from the fingers,
are not separate in the Macaques, but the muscle has two tendons, and
thus foreshadows the arrangement which in man and the higher Apes gives
such perfection of movement to the thumb.
The Macaques have their ears rather pointed at the tip, and not
rounded, and the general shape of their bodies is not lanky like that
of the active long-legged Guenons and Semnopitheci. They are less
gracefully made, and the dog-like appearance, so palpable in the
Baboon, is recognised in their fore parts and head. Moreover, the
colours are not usually pretty and variegated, as in many of the kinds
of the genera already described, but are dun and sad in tint. Their
tail varies according to the species in length, and a rough method of
classification may be made which divides them into those with long,
those with moderate, and those with short and almost no tails.
[Illustration: TOQUE.]
The large Common Macaque (_M. cynomolgus_), and the Round-faced, or
Formosan Monkeys (_M. cyclopis_), and the Bonnet Monkey, represent the
long-tailed kinds; the Bhunder (_M. rhesus_), has a tail of middle
length; and the short-tailed group about to be mentioned consists
of the Moor, the Pig-tailed, and the Belanger Monkey. The tail-less
one includes the Magot. Finally, the Silenus Ape, usually miscalled
Wanderoo, is so baboonish that, although it has a long tail, it cannot
be placed with the Common Macaque in the beginning of the chapter, but
must come at the end, so as to lead to the true Dog-headed Apes, or
Baboons, which will be described further on.
If the remarks in page 106 about the fourth division of the
Cercopitheci are now read carefully, it will be understood how these
Monkeys, the Macaques and the Baboons, form a group of creatures which
is only really separable into kinds or species, but that the genera are
very artificial.
THE COMMON MACAQUE.[51]
The so-called Common Macaque, or _Macacus cynomolgus_, represents the
long-tailed section of the genus, and grows to be a powerful animal
amongst the other small Monkeys, over a very wide extent of country. It
lives in Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Batchian, in the islands from
Lombok to Timor, and in the Philippines. It is a quiet and tolerably
amiable Monkey when young, but with years, it becomes a wild, savage,
and very brutal creature. Even in menageries it is often nasty in its
habits, and savage. So bad a character has it, that when the proper
name to give it came under the criticism of Fred. Cuvier, he sought out
those of all the wickedest and naughtiest men in Lempriere’s Classical
Dictionary, and finally considering that _Irus_, who disturbed the
domestic peace of the sublimely virtuous, industrious, and persevering
Penelope, was the worst of the worst, he fixed his name to that of
this Monkey. But Buffon had, not from his bad qualities, or from any
resemblance to the Monkey in disposition, his name attached to it long
before; so it was called Buffon’s Monkey, as well as the Hare-lipped,
although one fails to recognise this condition in its face. To
complicate matters, an English zoologist, who knew little of Penelope’s
feelings or trials, mistook the word Irus, and wrote it Iris! The word
Cynomolgus may be translated “a pilfering or a lewd dog,” so that it
and Irus are very appropriate.
The huge shoulders of the full-grown adult strike one, and its general
clumsiness also. There is a large body, and the limbs are short for
it, although the tail is long. The fur is rather short, and is of an
olive-brown, spotted with black on the head and body, but it is grey
on the limbs, and blackish on the tail. There is no “hare-lip” in this
Monkey, but there is no hollow going from the nose to the upper lip as
in man, and only a raised line.
This Monkey is sometimes found perfectly white, with red eyes, or as an
albino; its skin is then of a pinkish colour, and the long tail looks
very curious, as there is not much hair on it. A male and female of
this kind are very interesting in the Zoological Gardens; they dislike
the glare of day, and are very lively and full of fun and malice. The
female has the whiskers and all the beauty of hair, and the male is a
quieter animal, but a great grimace-maker. He tries to look fierce when
the sun is on his face, and looks most odd. He draws back his ears, so
that they cling to the back of his head, and wobbles his eyes about in
a most laughable manner. The female does not like to be disturbed in
her nap after breakfast, and comes out to see what is the matter. If
anything noisy is going by, she scolds violently, and if she can catch
hold of her drinking-tin, she will bang it about in a very amusing
manner. Sitting in her wooden house, she bangs the outside with the
tin, and then dropping it, rushes out and fixes her teeth on the wooden
branches in the cage. The deficiency of colouring matter in the iris
of the eye allows so much light to enter that organ, that there is the
same scowling or shading eye look in them as there is in human albinos.
The second example of a long-tailed genus is
THE ROUND-FACED MACAQUE,[52] THE FORMOSAN MONKEY.
These are very interesting Monkeys, with a human-like expression,
which suffer considerably at the hands of the Chinese, for should one
be captured, its tail is immediately cut off, the Chinese having a
fanciful idea that the tail of the Monkey is a caricature of the Tartar
pendant into which they twist their long back hair. They therefore cut
off the tail of every Macaque that comes into their possession.
They live in Formosa about the declivities and caverns which overhang
the sea, miles away from any woods. It seems to be quite a rock-loving
animal, seeking the shelter of the caves during the greater part of the
day, and assembling in parties in the twilight and feeding on berries,
the tender shoots of plants and grasshoppers, &c. In the summer it
collects in bands during the night, and commits depredations among
the fields of sugar-cane and fruit-trees. They nurse their solitary
young ones up in the hills, and betray much uneasiness--no wonder--at
the approach of man. They seem, however, to possess abundance of self
conceit.
The Chinese have some very curious notions about them, and about some
other Monkeys which are either identical or are found with them.
They say that in the Yaoukwang hills are animals whose exterior
appearance is like a Mehow with human face and Hogs’ bristles. During
the summer they dwell in caves. They are called Hwatso, their cry is
like cut water (noise of a mill), and when seen they are “ominous of a
conscription” (_i.e._, of being forced to work). The Yew are like the
Mehow and of a deep black colour; their tails are long like the others,
but have no tufts. When they scent the dew ascending to form rain,
they then suspend themselves by means of their tails to fill their
nostrils with it, or else by both feet. The Gaou are said to inhabit
the Lunseen hills, to be like an Ape with long arms, and to be good
for killing. When their arms are cut through at the thick part, they
can be made into flutes rounder than reeds. They are of the Monkey
tribe, having long legs, and are good whistlers, and given to drag
things about. The Yew are like the common Monkey, with green body and
dark paws; they have black whiskers and black paws. They are naturally
very fond of their whiskers, and doat on their species, living and
dying together; on which account, if one can be got at, a hundred will
be killed. Men shoot them with poisoned arrows; the shot animal’s
companions draw out the arrow in order to wound themselves and die with
one another.
These round-faced Monkeys have, of course, callosities on the buttocks,
and these at certain times become gorged with blood, so as to swell out
and become greatly distended, being horrible to look at.
They resemble the common Rhesus Monkey, about to be described, in many
points, and indeed the skulls present so many things in common that
no satisfactory distinction can be made; but the bones of the pelvis,
which are much curved, and the shorter limb-bones of the round-faced
species, are distinctive.
The fur of this Monkey is thick and woolly, and is very slate-coloured.
The tail is about a foot in length, is hairy, and has a black line
along the top. The head is round, the ears are small and feathered,
and the face is flat. The forehead is naked and the cheeks are
dark-whiskered, and there is a strong ruffle-like beard.
THE BONNET MONKEY.[53]
This is a very common Monkey in menageries and zoological gardens,
and is always an object of attention, as it is amusing, very active,
full of tricks and malice, and a great stower away of nuts in its
cheek-pouches. It is known amongst the other Macaques by its cap of
long hair radiating from the crown, on which it rests flat, but it is
often parted down the middle. It has a long tail, rather a long muzzle,
and prominent ridges over the eyes, and the forehead is flat. Its fur
is olive-grey, and sometimes greenish or brown in tint, whilst the
under surface is ashy-white. It has large and often flesh-coloured ears.
The young often have their head of hair parted down the middle, and, as
their face and forehead are pale and not hairy, they have a very human
appearance.
Very good-tempered when pleased, this Macaque enjoys a bit of mischief,
and if it can steal anything from a visitor it is intensely delighted.
But when food is offered and then not given, the Bonnet Monkey shows
that it considers itself wronged, and scolds and screams in a great
rage. It has much capacity for accepting and stowing away food,
and there are often fierce fights if one intrudes upon the store
of another. Very fond of hugging and nursing others, it is equally
delighted in searching the bodies of its companions for insect life;
but, although thus amiable, it resents unkindness very decidedly and at
once.
Another common Macaque is called the Toque, but it only differs from
the Bonnet in the parting of its hair.
THE BHUNDER, OR RHESUS MONKEY.[54]
This is a Monkey with a medium-sized tail, which is well known to those
Europeans who have lived in out-of-the-way places in British India.
It is a strong-looking creature when full grown, and has powerful
shoulders and limbs; the tail is about one-third of the length of the
body, which often attains the length of from one foot-and a-half to two
feet. The prevailing colour of the hair is olive-green and brown on the
back, and the naked face is of a pale flesh-colour. There is no ruff
of hair around the neck, and the ears are very visible, and there is a
singular looseness or folding of the skin of the throat and belly. The
callosities are often very red, and the insides of the legs also.
[Illustration: BHUNDER AND BONNET MONKEY.]
F. Cuvier observed the early days of one born in France, and noticed
that immediately after birth it clung fast to its mother’s stomach,
holding on with its fore hands stuck in her fur, and that it did not
quit the breast, even during its sleep, for fifteen days. In the first
day of its existence it appeared to distinguish things, and to look
at them carefully, and the mother was devoted to it, giving it the
tenderest attention of a constant and patient nurse. Not a movement or
noise on its part escaped her, and her maternal solicitude was quite
astonishing. The weight of the little thing did not interfere with
her moving about, and all her exertions were managed with a view of
not incommoding her young charge. She never shook it, or struck it
accidentally against the edges and corners of her house. At the end
of a fortnight the little one began to detach itself, and from the
beginning of its moving by itself it showed a great amount of vigour,
power, and ability to run and jump, which human children of a year or
two might well envy. It held on to the wires of its cage and crawled
up and down at will, but the careful mother never took her eyes off
it, and followed it wherever it went, and even held out her hands
to prevent it tumbling when it became too venturesome. Indeed, she
admonished the little one by a gentle touch that it had been away long
enough, and must come in. At other times it walked on all-fours over
the straw, and often let itself drop down from the top of its cage on
to the soft bottom, so as to accustom itself to fall on all-fours; then
it would jump up the net-work and lay hold and scramble with great
precision. After a while, the mother began to teach the young one not
to be so troublesome to her, and to manage without her, but still she
took care of it, following it if it was doing anything out of the way
and in danger. With strength the agility of the creature increased,
and its jumps and bounds were wonderful, and it never miscalculated
its distance, or made a false step. After six weeks a more substantial
nourishment than milk was required, and then a very curious spectacle
was seen. This attentive mother would not let the little one have a bit
of all the nice things, but drove it away and scolded it, although it
was hungry. The old one took possession of the fruit and bread which
were for both, and boxed the little one’s ears if it came close and hid
up the food. She had hardly any more milk, and the young one was in
daily want of food, but the old one did not appear to act from cruelty
or gluttony, but wished to train up the youth, like the young Cyrus, to
feats of daring and of skill. As hunger pressed, the young one became
bold, and stole by art what he could not get otherwise. If he was very
adroit, all the better, and he was commended by being allowed to carry
off his own. He used to get to the further end of the cage, and turning
his back on his mother would begin to gormandise. But even the maternal
solicitude was not wanting, for she often used to go up to him and
snatch a nice titbit out of his jaws. Perhaps this was a mistaken idea,
for after a while a larger quantity of food was placed in the cage, and
the little one had its quantity without any stealing.
[Illustration: MOOR MACAQUE.]
The Bhunders are sacred in some parts of India, and are left very much
to themselves; so they assemble in troops, and steal from among the
natives in a very troublesome manner.
As they are very bold, their habits in the wild state are often
observable, their slyness and thieving propensities being most amusing.
They gather on the roofs of the low houses in the bazaars, and look out
for occasion to steal. One was observed on a roof fronting a sweetmeat
shop, and feigning to be asleep; but every now and then he looked
wistfully at the luscious prizes below. It was, however, of no use,
for sitting beside his stores was the seller, smoking his pipe, and
looking decidedly wide awake. This went on for half an hour, when the
Monkey got up, yawned, and stretched himself artfully, as if he had
only just awoke. He began to play with his tail, and even made believe
he was tying knots in it, as if he were wholly intent on it; but ever
and anon he gave a sharp, sly look over his shoulder at the sweetmeats,
but only to see the seller still there smoking away to his heart’s
content, and ruminating concerning prospective customers and profits.
The Monkey still had patience, and amused himself with his fleas, and
had a good and general scratch; and he was rewarded, for suddenly the
confectioner arose from his seat, took his pipe, and turned towards the
back door for a fresh supply of tobacco. Instantly the Bhunder was on
all-fours, and the sweetmeats were before him and behind their owner.
In another moment he had jumped off the roof, cleared the street, and
was on the board which was crowded with sugar-plums. He of course began
to cram as many as possible into his cheek-pouches. But, alas for the
spoiler, there were other pilferers there in the shape of hornets; his
sudden descent frightened them, and they flew off, but returned on the
instant, and to take vengeance. Before he could regain his roof they
were all round him, stinging here and stinging there with great zeal
and passion. His efforts at getting away from them were frantic, and he
scrambled over the rotten roof, displacing the tiles, which came down
with a crash; and at last, when he jumped clear of the enraged insects,
he came on to a sharp, thorny bush, from which he could not extricate
himself. He had to spit all the nice things out of his pouches, and,
screaming with pain--for the thorns were more like fish-hooks than
anything else--he sat a picture of misery, barking hoarsely now and
then. The fall of the tiles brought out a crowd of natives, and they
were speedily joined by the confectioner, full of revenge. But the
culprit was a Monkey, and, therefore, an object of veneration; so a
couple of Hindoos managed to rescue him, and he limped off as well as
he could to a neighbouring grove.
The Hindoos tell many tales of the sagacity of this Monkey; and there
is one which may be taken as a specimen, although it has been filtered
through Mahomedan pages. A fakir had a Monkey which he had brought up
from birth. He loved it, and travelled here and there, taking much
care of it. In return the Monkey behaved like a watch-dog, and was
most faithful and watchful. It amused the fakir by its endless tricks
and mimicry. One day, the fakir placed his carpet in a square before
the palace of some great shah who had nothing to do, and who looked at
the fakir and the Monkey with great delight. The fakir had made a pie;
there were some pieces of birds’ flesh in it, and it was placed on some
lighted charcoal to be cooked. The Monkey sat watching, and the fakir
thought he would like a stroll until dinner was ready, knowing that his
faithful follower would look after the cooking. But the shah saw more
than the fakir; for, after a while, the smell of the meat came strongly
into the Monkey’s nostrils, and he began to feel hungry. Soon he was
very hungry, and then he just lifted up the edge of the crust, and
could not refrain from taking a tiny bit--just a little leg. This was
so nice that he took a little more, and finally eat all. The crust was
left on the grass, and then the sinner suddenly remembered his master.
The shah was in ecstasies, wondering what would come next. After due
consideration, the Monkey remembered that he usually sat on a very
beautiful flesh-coloured “callosity,” and he had noticed that several
Crows and other birds had been hovering about whilst he consumed his
master’s dinner. He instantly feigned to be dead, and hiding his head,
gave the birds the benefit of the scarlet appearance. One came down
instantly with a swoop; but the Monkey was too quick, and the bird was
seized and strangled in an instant. Rapidly plucking off the feathers,
the Monkey pulled it to pieces, and put it in the pie, and sat looking
happy, contented, and extremely virtuous. The shah was struck with this
wonderful display of instinct, and the story goes on to say that he
promoted the fakir to an important post under government.
There is a Macaque which, instead of having the quiet brown and olive
tints of the others, with short tails, is of a dark oily black colour.
It is called
THE MOOR MONKEY.[55]
It lives in Borneo, and is about eighteen inches in length. It has a
flat nose, with nostrils opening well outwards, and the eyes are hazel,
the pupils being very large. The length of the bones of the tail is not
enough to carry it beyond the callosities, which are of a roseate hue.
When young the skull is short, and there is no great projection over
the eye; but with age the upper part of the face becomes very square,
and the eyebrow ridges grow. Now; this gloomy-looking Monkey offers
some points of interest, for there is another one, called the Booted
Monkey (_Macacus ocreatus_), which cannot be distinguished from it
when both are young. With age, however, the last-named one becomes
oily black, has a longer tail, and the hair on the head has a bushier
appearance. But can these distinctions be accepted as showing a
difference in the species? Probably not; and it will be for the student
to consider that Monkeys may have races and varieties which really
pertain but to one species, and yet are separated by the naturalist.
There are other short-tailed species of the Macaques, of which one,
called the Handsome Monkey (_Macacus speciosus_), has a red face. It is
from Japan, and is educated by the showmen there to do tricks like the
Rhesus Monkey of India.
Another kind is interesting, because it gives a hint how a tail may be
gradually lost from being in the way.
BELANGER’S MONKEY.[56]
This is found in Cochin-China, Singapore, Burmah, and up in the hills
of Upper Burmah, Cochin, and Assam.
Its tail is more than a stump, yet is not half a middle-sized one,
as it does not come lower than the haunch-bones. The Monkey is much
troubled with it. Sometimes it is stuck up erect, but usually it is
curled inwards, as if the animal were ashamed of it, and had done
something wrong. When this is the case, the end quarter of it is
doubled up, and thus the space between the haunch-bones is filled,
as it were. The animal then sits on its tail and on its callosities,
which are on the haunch-bones, and the consequence is that the surface
of the tail, thus compressed, becomes hard and callous. Here, writes
Dr. Anderson, the Indian zoologist, is an instance of a Monkey sitting
on its tail; and the habit appears to be peculiar to the species. The
tail is very degenerated, so far as its bones are concerned, and the
curvature of it appears to be caused by the animal desiring to curve
it out of the way of pressure. Perhaps, according to Lord Monboddo,
this is the first symptom of the loss of tail. With regard to the other
peculiarities of this species, it may be mentioned that it has pretty
eyes, and is exceedingly easily domesticated.
THE PIG-TAILED MACAQUE.[57]--THE BRUH.
This is a short, thin-tailed kind, comes from Sumatra, Borneo, and the
Malay Peninsula, and is called by the natives the Bruh--climber of the
palms. It is said to be used by the natives to collect cocoa-nuts, and
is domesticated by them, being often found in their houses.
THE MAGOT.[58] THE BARBARY APE. THE TAIL-LESS APE.
This is a very celebrated kind, and it has made its mark in the history
of science and of the world. It was dissected by Galen; it took part
in the great siege of Gibraltar, and is one of the most popular of the
companions of the organ-grinder. Moreover, as will be noticed further
on, it is an animal which may be classified with the _Cynocephali_, or
true Baboons, to be described in the next chapter, without doing much
violence to science.
It is called Magot by the French, and it is the Pithecus of that
great old physician, Galen, who, when he could not learn anatomy by
dissecting the human body, which was not allowed, investigated that of
the Tail-less Ape. Born at Pergamo, about the year A.D. 131,
Galen studied literature and then anatomy when young; and visiting
Alexandria, was greatly delighted with being permitted to examine a
human skeleton there, and subsequently to dissect a robber, who had
remained without burial. Seeing that anatomy and physiology were the
very foundations of medical practice, and noticing the resemblances
of man and the Ape, he set to work and wrote largely on anatomy, but
made the Ape his model. He was far before his age, and, therefore,
abominable in the eyes of the antiquated practitioners; so his career
as a physician in Rome was short. Nevertheless, his voluminous works
lasted longer than his critics, and influenced the rise of medical
science and the comfort and lives of mankind for many centuries.
His anatomy was wrong, because it was that of the Ape and not of
man; but, nevertheless, so strongly were the medical anatomists--who
never dissected but only read--impressed with the correctness of
his so-called human anatomy, that when Vesalius did dissect men and
describe them, he was pooh-poohed by the faculty as of no authority
whatever. Just as Oxford opposed the learning of Greek, so the first
physician of Henry IV. of France decided against human anatomy and
Vesalius; but Greek and Vesalius triumphed after a while.
Nevertheless, humanity for many centuries was under a deep obligation
to the Magot, inasmuch as surgery, as applied to man, was founded upon
observations on the construction of the Ape.
Strabo knew that North Africa was peopled by the Tail-less Ape, or
Pithecus; and he asserts that Posidonius, on going from Cadiz to Italy
by sea, stopped in Lybia (the present Barbary), and saw large numbers
of these Apes in the forests, which came down close to the water side.
[Illustration: PIG-TAILED MACAQUE.]
The Magot is about the size of a middle-sized Dog, and measures from
two to two and a half feet in length. The upper parts of the body
and outsides of the limbs are of a light yellowish-brown colour,
which is deeper on the head and round the cheeks; the under parts
are whitish; and the face, ears, and other naked and hairless parts
are flesh-coloured. The bald face, rather pale in tint, is long and
wrinkled, and it is this which gives an old look to them, even when
they are young. It is a robust animal when full grown, and has then
deeply-set eyes, which are rather close together, and a projecting
brow. The erect posture can be maintained for a short time, but it is
not natural to it; on the contrary, it moves on all-fours quickly,
jumps and climbs with great agility, scampering over broken ground or
getting into the trees equally well. It squats on its haunches, and
often sleeps with the head hanging down over the chest. Always alert
and full of mischief, they assemble in troops, especially on the flanks
of the Atlas range, place their scouts on trees, like so many Crows,
and despoil the fruit plantations and gardens. In this they resemble
the Baboons, whose marauding expeditions will be noticed further on.
This is the Monkey which is tolerably common on the Rock of Gibraltar;
and they were there before the sea wore away the land and formed the
Strait. They are essentially Rock Apes, and like trees near rocks,
and, therefore, they are not found in desert tracts or in deep woods.
Formerly the Rock of Gibraltar was no doubt continuous with the range
of hills far over the sea to the south, and there the Magot plundered
(or, rather, took what Nature let him take; for man had not then come
to disturb him) the fruit of Kabylia, Algiers, and Morocco. People have
invented many methods by which the Magots could come from Barbary on to
the Rock of Gibraltar: some believe in a subterranean passage, which
is said still to enable the occasional visits of African relations
to their European kindred; and others, more practically inclined,
believe that the Apes came over on board ship by stealth. Certain it
is that the strong current through the Straits prevents anything from
drifting from one side of them to the other. Some years since, some
caves were opened and carefully examined in the Rock of Gibraltar, and
bones were found of kinds of Hyænas, of Rhinoceros, and of Elephants,
all comparable with those still living on the African Continent. Now,
such animals could not at the present time live on the Rock, but they
might have done so when it was part of a country extending right away
to Africa. Their bones were washed into valleys amongst the hills, and
then they fell into deep fissures and became preserved; and this could
only have taken place when there was much water in the neighbourhood;
and for there to be much water, the whole aspect of the country would
have to be changed--to be extended far and wide where the sea now is.
[Illustration: MAGOT.]
No Monkey bones were found; but this is to be explained by noticing
what occurs in India. There a dead Monkey is rarer than a dead Donkey
in England--so rare, indeed, that the natives believe that their fellow
Monkeys bury them; but the fact is there are plenty of beasts of prey
ready to devour them, sick or dead, and therefore Monkey bones are very
seldom found.
It is probable, then, that the Magot, and many African and some
European animals, lived in the south of Spain when the Peninsula
was united to North Africa. It has lasted longer than its great
fellow-beasts, and still lingers there, but in greatly diminishing
numbers.
What they live upon on the Rock is rather a mystery, for there are no
groves of fruit-trees or plantations to be robbed, but only roots and
bulbs to be dug up. Perhaps it is this spare diet which restricts their
numbers and causes them to be very watchful. It is notorious that they
are rarely approached, but sometimes they are trapped, or seduced into
mischief, which ends in captivity. All kinds of stories are told at
Gibraltar, and by most of those who have resided there, of the acts
and deeds of the Rock Monkeys. Once upon a time, a strong party of
these Apes, headed by an old male, who had grown grey in audacity and
mischief, were always stealing and ruining the belongings of a certain
regiment in garrison, and at last the annoyance became so great that
it was determined to catch the ringleader, if possible. The men caught
him, and shaved his head and face, and then they let him go. Away he
scampered to his party, who had been watching for him at a distance,
eager, no doubt, to place himself at their head again and lead them to
vengeance. He was received with a volley of sticks and stones by his
own troops, who treated him so roughly that he had to fly for his life.
In this deplorable and degraded state, he was fain to sneak back to
his old enemies, the ----th regiment, and presented himself at their
quarters, so woe-begone and with such a rueful visage, “all shaven
and shorn,” that there was no resisting the appeal. Broderip says:
“He was admitted, and remained with his new allies, whom he served
with fidelity, upon the principle that secures the faith of other
allies--because he couldn’t help it.” It is said in one of the stories
of the great siege that the Monkeys saved Gibraltar as the Geese saved
Rome, for the Spaniards attempted to surprise the place a few weeks
before the regular siege commenced; but, fortunately for the British,
the attacking party had to pass where a number of these Magots had
collected. Both parties were startled at the noise, but the British
were put on their guard, and the old fort was thoroughly ready for
the enemy. General Elliot, afterwards Lord Heathfield, never suffered
the Apes to be molested or taken; but one had been made prisoner
previously to the time of his being made Governor of Gibraltar, and was
kept chained in his yard. Another Monkey, who had apparently fallen
from a rock, had been picked up by one of the General’s aides-de-camp
and conducted to the same place. Nothing could be more striking than
the meeting of the pair. It was evidently the recognition of two old
friends or relatives. After contemplating each other for a few seconds,
they rushed into each other’s arms, then pushed each other a little
back, as if to make sure of the recognition, and, after a second mutual
examination, again clasped each other to their breasts.
[Illustration: WRIST-BONES OF THE MAGOT.]
The Magots, like all other Monkeys, are playful, affectionate, and
gentle, when young, to those whom they know, but they become cross
and vicious with age, and are generally greatly brutalised by their
masters--in fact, brought to the same level.
The absence of a tail makes the Magot look very baboonish, and this
appearance is not lost when the animal is dissected, and the skull is
examined. This is much less animal-looking than that of any one of the
Baboons, for it has not so much face, and the front of it is not so
disfigured with ridges and swellings. But the forehead is “villainous
low,” and there are well-marked ridges over the orbits, the skull not
rising behind them; and, as a matter of course, the brain case is flat,
the brain itself being low in height. The palate is narrow and long,
the face is flat, and the chin recedes. There is a capital set of
teeth, and the last grinders of the lower jaw (third molars) have their
fifth cusp, or tubercle, subdivided by two side-slits. In this, and in
the tail, which is excessively rudimentary, and only has three bones,
or vertebræ, the Magot departs from the usual form of the Macaques as a
genus. The sutures of the face and skull--that is to say, the joinings
between the bones--are soon obliterated in this animal; and it appears
to have the nose (nasal) bones joined in one at an early age, thus
resembling the Baboon and the carnivorous animals.
So many tricks are taught these clever Magots, and with such ease, that
one would expect to find a fairly-developed brain; but an examination
of one shows that it is hollowed beneath and narrow in front, whilst it
is broad behind, and extending well back, and covering the cerebellum.
Their special muscular structures resemble those of the other Inui, and
even their stump of a tail has the muscles which are common to those of
all Monkeys, but which in this instance are useless.
It will be noticed in the engraving of the wrist-bones that one
projects behind. This is the pea-shaped, or pisiform bone. It is small
and at the side of the wrist in man, but here it acts like it front
_heel_ bone. The length of the three middle long bones of the palm, or
metacarpals, is nearly equal; and this is an interesting point, as it
prevents the third finger from being so much the longest, and gives the
hand more or less a foot-like appearance.
THE WANDEROO.[59]
Wanderoo is the English way of spelling and pronouncing the word by
which the native inhabitants of Ceylon call all Monkeys; and it is
certainly misapplied in this instance, for the animal is not truly one
of the Cingalese Monkeys, although it has been brought into the island.
It lives in the neighbouring part of the south of the peninsula of
Hindostan, especially in the country bordering the Malabar coast. It
is a small animal, probably never reaching two feet in length, and the
tail may be that of ten or twelve inches; but, from the stories which
have been told and invented, one would conceive the Wanderoo to be a
giant in wickedness as well as in physical power.
They have slim bodies, which are covered with deep black hair, and
there is a longish tail of the same colour, ended by a little tuft.
Their head looks very large, because of a mane, or ruff, and beard
which surrounds the face, sticking out in a wild kind of way. This mass
of long hair is either grey or white in colour, and adds to the sly
look of the broad face, soft dull eyes, and rather long black muzzle.
[Illustration: FACE OF THE WANDEROO.]
A former dignitary of the Roman Catholic Church, the Procurator-General
of the Barefooted Carmelites, Father Vincent Maria, writes that there
are four kinds of Monkeys on the coast of Malabar, and then proceeds
to describe the Wanderoo. He says that this is perfectly black, is
clothed with glossy hair, and has a white beard round his head and
chin, measuring rather more than a palm in length. To him all the
other Monkeys show such deep respect, that in his presence they
are submissive, and humble themselves as if they were aware of his
pre-eminence. The princes and great lords esteem him highly, for that
he is, above every other, gifted with gravity, capacity, and a wise
appearance. Easily is he taught to perform a variety of ceremonies
and courtesies, and all these in so serious and perfect a style as to
make it a great wonder that they should so exactly be enacted by an
irrational animal. This excellent character does not appear to have
been peculiar to all the Wanderoos; for some have been described as
savage and disgusting in the extreme, and as most vicious and malignant
in captivity. But it is probable that the gentleness of disposition
which has been so noticed by those who have kept them kindly was
spoiled by teasing and maltreatment.
The showmen call this Monkey the “Child of the Sun;” and Broderip
suggests that it is the ruff, with the head peeping through, which
gives a faint likeness to old Sol over a public-house door; and that
probably the dark colour of the animal impressed his exhibitors with
the great heat he enjoyed in his Indian home.
Certainly they like the sun; and we have often seen a pair at the
Zoological Gardens sunning themselves after their breakfast with great
delight. They sit on a bar, close to the wires of the cage, and climb
four or five feet up it, clinging close to their iron prison, just in
the range of a sunbeam. They spread out their black hands, and enjoy
the glare, becoming sleepy and disinclined to pay any attention to
nuts, cakes, and other temptations. They peer down at you with their
expressive eyes, and give an occasional twist to their tail, to pull
it close to them, probably after a long experience of the habits of
the other Monkeys in the cage, who certainly have not an overwhelming
respect for them. It is curious to see them climbing slowly, and
without the great exertion and bounds of some of the Guenons, and to
notice their marching, head and back downwards, whilst they crawl along
the under-side of the roof of their house, looking down every now and
then in a cunning sort of manner.
[Illustration: WANDEROO.]
Broderip used to watch one, when the Zoological Society’s collection
was in its infancy in Bruton Street, and a right merry fellow was he.
“He would run up his pole and throw himself over the cross-bar, so
as to swing backwards and forwards as he hung suspended by the chain
which held the leathern strap that girt his loins. The expression of
his countenance was peculiarly innocent; but he was sly--very sly--and
not to be approached with impunity by those who valued their head-gear.
He would sit demurely on his cross perch, pretending to look another
way, or to examine a nut-shell for some remnant of kernel, till a
proper victim came within his reach; when down the pole he rushed, and
up he was again in the twinkling of an eye, leaving the bare-headed
surprised one, minus his hat, at least, which he had the satisfaction
of seeing undergoing a variety of transformations, under the plastic
hands of the grinning monster, not at all calculated to improve a shape
which the taste of a Moore [the hat maker of the day], perhaps, had
designed and executed. It was whispered--_horrescimus referentes_--that
he once scalped a bishop, who ventured too near, notwithstanding the
caution given to his lordship by another dignitary of the Church, and
that it was some time before he could be made to give up, with much
grinning and chattering, the well-powdered wig which he had profanely
transferred from that sacred poll to his own. The lords spiritual
of the present day, with one or two exceptions, are safe from such
sacrilege. Now it would be nearly as difficult to take a wig off a
bishop as it once was to take the breeches off a Highlandman. But
another Wanderoo, confined in the open part of the gardens in the
Regent’s Park, was of a different temperament. There was a melancholy
about this creature. He would climb his pole, ascend to his elevated
house-top, and there sit for half an hour together, gazing wistfully
at the distant portion of the park--which presented, when viewed from
his position, the appearance of a thick wood--every now and then
looking down, as if he was contrasting the smooth, sharp-pointed pole,
to which they fettered him, with the rugged, ‘living columns of the
evergreen palaces’ of his fathers.” The Wanderoo often loses some of
his tail in captivity; but it should be, when full-grown, terminated by
a tuft, which, in the imagination of some, has been considered quite
lion-like. Having large cheek-pouches, this Monkey, very un-lion-like
in disposition, feeds rather rapidly, and stores away much for future
occasion. In doing this it either carries the food to the mouth with
the hand or places its mouth to the object. It moves on all-fours, and
has callosities; and these, and the tail, give it a very baboon-like
appearance. Nothing is known of their habits in their wild state.
The geographical range of the Inui, or Macaques, is very great, and
some of the twenty-seven species of which the genus is composed have
very restricted wandering grounds, whilst others are found over a wide
extent of country. As a group, they are found from North Africa to
China, and species are met with at Gibraltar and Eastern Tibet, and
within range of the everlasting snow. They are found in the peninsulas
of India, and in the great islands as far south-west as Timor and in
the Philippines, but not in Celebes or in New Guinea.