Buffon's Natural History. Volume 09 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 09 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
With respect to the diversity of these two species, our presumption is
founded, 1. On the difference of their external form; 2. On the colour
and disposition of the hair; 3. On the difference which is found in
the proportion of their skeletons; and 4. On the first two mentioned
being natives of the southern countries of Africa, and the two that we
are now treating of, being natives of Bengal. This last consideration
is of as great weight as any of the rest, for we have had sufficient
proofs, that in wild animals the distance of climate is a sufficient
mark of the remoteness of the species. Besides, the malbrouck and the
bonnet chinois, are not the only species or breeds of monkeys which
are found in Bengal. By the testimonies of travellers there seem to be
four varieties, white, black, red and grey; they likewise tell us that
the black kind are more easily tamed than any of the rest. Those we saw
were reddish, and appeared very docile and familiar.
"These animals, according to travellers, plunder whole fields of
grain, and plantations of sugar-cane; and while one stands centinel
on a tree, the others load themselves with the booty. If any person
appears, the centinel gives notice by crying _houp, houp, houp_, which
the rest perfectly understand, and all at once throw down the plunder
which they hold in their left hands, and scamper off upon three legs;
if close pursued they also throw down what they have in their right,
and save themselves from their pursuers by climbing up trees, which
is their general abode. They leap from tree to tree, and even the
females, though loaded with their young ones, leap like the others;
but they sometimes, in their haste, miss their aim and fall. They are
very difficult to render in any degree docile, and are never so far
tamed as to be suffered to go unchained. Even in their own country
they will not produce unless at perfect freedom in the woods. When
they cannot procure fruits they feed upon insects, and sometimes go to
the sides of the rivers, for the purpose of catching fish and crabs,
the latter of which they take by watching the opening of its claws
and then putting their tails between; the crab instantly closes them,
when they, with all speed, drag it ashore, and eat it at leisure. They
are fond of cocoa-nuts, and are very expert in extracting the juice
for drink, and afterwards getting at the kernel, the shell of which
is generally made use of as a snare to catch them; a small hole being
made in one of them, the animal who meets with it thrusts his paw in
with difficulty, when those who have laid the trap run and seize him
before he can disengage himself. They sometimes place bamboos on the
tops of trees for the purpose of extracting the _zari_, which drops
from them, and which they drink. In the provinces of India, where
the Bramins reside, and whose religious tenets do not allow them to
kill any animals, the monkeys are almost numberless. They assemble in
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