ABOUT INDIAN MONEYS.

Manawatu Herald, 30 July 1896, Page 4

ABOUT INDIAN MONEYS.

*h© Method They Employ When Robblu* | a Cornfield. It is still an artiole of faith, not only in ludia, but in ".'I lands where monkeys ro in puub% :3-:t they have a king, laws and language of course. Saving the first Hern uud duly limiting the others, the bolief fa sound no doubt. But Ibn Batuta tells ua, on the authority of "pions persons" ho met in India, that the king lives' in btate. Pour noblemen Jhvaj3 attend him with rods in their i,ai;tl3 and cooks serve him on their knees. The king has a train of "armed followers. " When a subject is caught, he contrives to send a message to the sovereign, who forthwith dispatches an urmy, ami when they come to the town they pull down the hoc6es and beat the people, and their armies, it is said, are nj -my. This is not quite so .ridiculous as it looks, for tho sacred apes that frequent an Indian village will readily gather to avongo an injury, and it is 1 a common practice with them to deJ'troy the huts when angered. They have a great many children, and when a child is unlike its father and mother it is thrown out on the high road. Then they are taken by the Hindoos, wha teach them every sort of handicraft',. pf sell them at night, that thpv may nofc $*& their way homo. ?' Xt Shabar, \7bich appears to have been somewhere L^ar Madras, people dare not travel by n*^* ™ th e woods, for fear of monkeys, w^ch is certainly not esact, siuce theEe ci^ures never movo after sundown, but if there be a foundation of truth in the lej<cnd it is curious. Vv r o aro not aware thas auy Indian apes at this day will attack a- passerby unless gravely provoked. Sut there are plenty elsewhore that will. It is a well known fact that in proceeding to raid the cornfields in- certain ■Darts cf Africa apes have si combined plan oi ! action. The g}d males go first— gome of them scout on either flank/ an « climb every eminence near the li£* °* march, to assure themselves that t^ route is safe. After reconnoitering, they give orders in such different tones of voice that each must have a special meaning. The elders are silent when advancing, but the main body, females and young, keep up an incessant chatter, playing and feeding as they go, unless brought to an instantaneous halt by signaL Behind follows the rear guard of males, who drive loiterers sharply on. On reaching the cornfields the scouts take post all round, while all the rest fall to plundering with the utmost expedition, filling their cheek pouches as full as they will hold, and then tucking the heads of corn under their armpits. — Boston Traveller.