MONKEY CONGREGATION.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 391, 5 November 1903, Page 6

MONKEY CONGREGATION.

ttsnarkable Assemblage In the Forest with the Birds Serrlaar ' as Slnsiolans. The author of "Sands of Sahara," when visiting the Gorge of Chiffa, came upon a strange ceremonial which, a native assured him, was an unusual one. The gorge itself is like a grand sancteary, canopied by trees and lighted delicately by the sun filtering through foliage. A remarkable assemblage was there that day —a congregation of monkeys apparently holding some kind of service, to which the birds of the forest gave music. The monkeys sat in rows upon the broad, out reaching branches of the •irgin tree?;. They were in parties of two, three or four, although one fellow sat alone, like a decorous bachelor. While most of them remained stationary, certain partriarchal fellows passed about the area of assemblage, sitting down for a few minutes en the branches beside different farailies of the parish, seeming to give them counsel.

,_ The ceremonies were conducted with the greatest propriety. The monkeys seemed to be taking part in a service in which the 3' were deeply interested. When it was over, and They were about to go out into the world, the ruling elders cculd be seen running about, passing from tree to tree en the interlacing branches; nor did the assembly break up ttntil those evidently respected officials had visited and saluted the entire convocation. Even their departure was aaade most decorously. Then, after that serious council had adjourned; the monkeys fell to enjoying themselves. They scampered from tree to tree. They swung from branch to branch. Some hung by their tails, and others, in little eoterier, hand in hand enjoyod their mid-air frolic. But the old bachelor did not clasp hands with anybody.

Fast Klsie Months Every Year. A census which has just been completed in rritish India has brought to light the extraordinary fact that there are in that country 1,416,G38 persons who fast and-remain entirely idle dur-

ing nine rr.vnths of every year. person~ are members of the Jain sect -*—TrjMheir Mrves are in Bengal and in the pfrrHE<*?3 f-f C;;zerat and Bajpu*nna. The : r principal shrine is on the nonntnin of Pi>rasnath, near Chota X,ir;*o:e. .thither they flock every Sl'.r-n.g. in order to begin the first great fsst of the year. A Jain can easily \ !;r» for s : x or seven weeks without trsking rvcn a mor=el of food, and during cert.iin festivals it is customary for all rf fbem to abstain from food for two full months. When they eat th?y enr.fir.e themselves to vegetables, fit* they never kill an animal, even in s?li-c!eiense. It is their religion which imposes upon them the obligation of fasting, but travelers say.that abstiItPBCa from fond is no penance in --- V.tr'.r case, and that even if they were n!i s\St converted to some other creed th?y would still remain idle and lead a severely ascetic life for th« greater part of the year. —N. Y. Herald.

Crsan Grinder'* Woil,

The sLriet organ grinder is a sad and discontented man, and spends part of his transplanted Italian life gently and melodiously- to himself at Ills new enemy, the fly *-.Tfc:i man. To the layman it would appear that spring ought to he synonymous with prosperity and pennies to the organ grinder, hut it is not. "Business is getting good now?" was asked of one who has a whole fleet of "rng timers" out in the residence districts. His description of the condition of trade is not fit for literal reproduction in a family newspaper* but in effect it was that the modern fly-screen is a delusion and a snare. The women, in particular, he declared, would sit behind a fly screen beside an open window, listen to all the pieces the organ contained, and then quietly retire without the organ man even getting a glimpse of her. In the days before fly screens were invented it wss no trouble to toss a penny out of the open window, and if the window was closed few women had the effrontery to open it and then fail to contribute to the musician.—Chicago Tribune.