The Monkeys of the Old World, excluding the great Apes already described, and including alone those with long hind limbs, may be divided into those without cheek-pouches and those which have them; and those in the first division form the subject of this chapter. Cheek-pouches may be seen crammed with nuts in most of the Monkeys at the Zoological Gardens, and the appearance given to the face is as if the skin on each side of the lower part of it were distended. When there are no nuts thus stowed away, the cheeks do not present a swollen or unusual appearance. The Monkey does not force nuts outside its jaws and between them and the cheeks so as to simply distend them, but it presses its food into what look like some folds in the cheek. These unfold, and form a bag or pouch on each side of the face, and the animal can eat, scream, and scold with the pouches full, and without their contents coming by chance into the mouth. The gift of a cheek-pouch is of great importance to a Monkey; it is a stowaway for his food, which may have to be carried some distance before it can be eaten. And it must be remembered, that not only have the Monkeys very indefinite notions of _meum et tuum_, but that they are surrounded by dangers from many other animals; they are communists, and their motto is _la propriété c’est le vol_; and, on the other hand, the great beasts of the earth, whose stealing is less thought of, because it is done with great violence, openly, and on a large scale, put down the Monkeys whenever they have the chance. But Nature, ever a considerate mother, whilst she is exceedingly economical, and does not allow any structures to be unused or wasted without gradually abolishing them, often gives animals which are defective in some things very important compensation. [Illustration: FACE OF THE BLACK-CRESTED MONKEY.] The pouchless Monkeys are evidently at a disadvantage; but by this system of compensation they have very peculiar stomachs, in which they can stow away quite as much food before more is absolutely wanted as their pouched friends can. The nature of this stomach will be noticed further on; and it is only necessary to observe that it is not in existence in the cheek-pouched division at all. The cheeks of the Monkeys with the peculiar stomach, on the other hand, are not pouched, but there is just the vestige of a fold or two, which, although of no use, still remains as an evidence of their ancestry--for, doubtless, these are descended from those with pouches. The great Anthropomorphous Apes have no cheek-pouches, neither have the American Monkeys; and, for reasons which will be noticed in treating of these last, they have not the complicated stomach of the Old World pouchless group. The pouchless division of Monkeys with complicated stomachs, and which, of course, have long hind limbs, comprehends two genera--the genus Semnopithecus, and the genus Colobus. THE SACRED MONKEYS.