OCR Text |
Show IT lt!.EU M0NKEIS. Till: AJICsKM2T OK A TKAVELLR I:i)S IX LV.NSTWlN'ATKi.N. Duly has taken me to IJharmsabt, a hill station connldt raWy west of Sinula. On the retuni jotimey I turneil o!T the main road at Kangra. The object of this ecup-lou was to siea neighburiiig shrine, mm h tn-erated tn-erated Iiy the iiiudoo, and called Jwalaniookhee. Tlie native iii. 'grlitis, who eome iu tlioU'-aiMl", lodge In (he optn air titulir the tnts ami o..l thiirownfuod; the rKh bring tenb, fur tlulr a-eoinmo-tptioii. Itut there was no place for Luiopeans to kiu m euceejit the us'ual- "district ollicirb'Uingalow." Tilts is always a pnutll house, with two or three rooms, built anil furnished by the government, gov-ernment, and iit in charge of am in svrvaut, wim lth looks after it ami attends to the wants of thr- w Ih occupy lt. I it it the of fleers w horn duty tali to sue h out-of-the- i:unieau -worst's place", lodge awl transact ItiiiDi utirlug the lew daj of th- iftodieal vi-its. To this bungalow, tlurefore. we went. On teihin: thu careUUir who we were. heofieiKsithe iiou-e, ami while I went in and indulged in a very needful and nfreshing wa-h, lie .itl.inhsl to my lior-e. These preluultiaiieii being oer, we sent him ititn the tow a for tlie double urrsweof proetiring us some food and of liHiuiring fiom thu priests at what liourwe m'ght ji the te:nile a vl-it. The main road tss through a dviiewixrl not I'l janls from this In iw, which was more than half a mile .tway Ironi tlie nein .-t jiart of the twu. trom the road a narrow avenue had K-eue-utaraongtlietrt'es to a small rlearaLce around the house, othertrise it is quite buried iu the wood. When th- carcuktr left me I found the Iioum: stuffy and damp. It h d probai !y not been openeil or aired for days. Hie silliness around was oppre-ivc. Not a lutind was heard except tho munching uf our Isorse iu tlie neightsiriug stable or liie raie try of a turd iu tlie trees. Tin re wis nothing iu tlie houe to rra 1 and nothing to do. llnn-ovi r 1 IishI had a long ride and fell rather still" in the leg. So rising ris-ing front the ehair I strolled out of thehouu-. After walking Ii-lltnly around lt, and (ttiing tlie small e-HMreti sc in iroii 1 roHoweet the avenue to the main road, and then returning pasM.nl into the wood immersed im-mersed iu my on tlHHiglit". It was literally .. twilight wood," for thotuli it was nearly iuuii on a briglit Augti-t day, the trees stood o close ani their leavi-s grert so tine!, that scarce a pate h of su nsliine lighted up a few- favored slut. "I he giant branches of the grand old tree's mure than touched, they Interlaced, and formed a leafv cauop overhead, with just here and there a rent, to admit a ray of light and to gie a gliuH.ee of the bright blue sky above. r-auulering uudtr these trees. I suddenly liecame eou-viouiof noises in the branches above me. I looleJ up and about; lut though thu bninhes stirred and the leaves moved, 1 coulu see nothing. I was n .1, however, loug Icit in duubt or speculation. A inoukty, a large males Iruj Icd Irom a bnlntli to tlie ground a: a distance of about thirty feet in front ef nie. As he reached the ground hepiatt.sl ou his IneL-, resting lth his liinus oil his knees and gttzlug fixedly ani solemnly at me. Jits gravity uiet mine. Tuen uar him another monkey dronicd dim ti, u third and a fouttli followed. 1 1 liegan to rain monkeys. I u ten-, in score-1, in litiiidreu: old. mill. Ule-aged, nnd jouug; large and smili, loalea and females many of tho latter carrj ing babies, some on their backs, others In their nrats kejit drop; lug Irom the trees around me. 1 was standing under a mighty giant of the forest, and agaiust its trunk, some five feet in diameter, 1 set my back, as the monkeys in tiieir hundreds squatted squat-ted down in an irregular semicircle round. They did not go behind the tree, tor iLs trunk was much wider than my baek, and the chose to sit only where they could see me. Around they left a clear space, but at the distance of about thirty fiet they sat huddled cloe together. In scleral rows, 600 and mere iu number. It may be said in passine that monkeys are sacred animau in India. They are fed and protected and allowed to roam at large with itoiuuity. Vat numbers Infest Delhi, Agra, and other large low n. At Keuarm they are a perfect plague. In so 'favorable a situation as Jwiamookhee-, they naturally multiply beyond reckoning, and people ihowoods insufficient hordes to account for thchunjreds that now surrouud me. At some distance dis-tance beyond, feveral young monkey mon-key urchins, which preferred play to curiosity, kept sut ending themselves them-selves from t. e brandies iu long living thalns, b. 'Jiug cntoeach othir's iu-t. j or 'alls, and (swing-In;; (swing-In;; t'ltmarlvcs nr1uiuin - wiw to and fro. They wero not the small, puny, crca-lures crca-lures generally seen in turopeau menageries, but the real genuino Indian Hancomann, of which raco the large nnd strong miles stand, when erect, fully fourfeet In height. Thcru were many such, among others of smaller lire, in tho crowd around mc. It had not taken three minutes to form that solid semi-circle of monkeys. mon-keys. They had como down as thick as a shower of hailstones, but so softly and gently had they descended de-scended to the grass and leaf-covered leaf-covered ground that scarcely any roise hid been made. For a short time tlicy sat motionless and silent, staring hard at me. nnd a baby monkey having made a noise was instantly smacked by IU mother In a nio-t liunnn fashion. They looked at me. and then they began to chatter first one, and then a lew together, then many at mice. Ar. |