Sketches of Natural History of Ceylon | Page 9

for improving the regimen of monkeys in menageries, by the
occasional admixture of a few fresh leaves and flowers with their solid
and substantial dietary.
A white monkey, taken between Ambepusse and Kornegalle, where
they are said to be numerous, was brought to me to Colombo. Except in
colour, it had all the characteristics of Presbytes cephalopterus. So
striking was its whiteness that it might have been conjectured to be an
albino, but for the circumstance that its eyes and face were black. I
have heard that white monkeys have been seen near the Ridi-galle
Wihara in Seven Korles and also at Tangalle; but I never saw another
specimen. The natives say they are not uncommon, and KNOX that
they are "milk-white both in body and face; but of this sort there is not
such plenty."[1] The Rev. R. SPENCE HARDY mentions, in his
learned work on _Eastern Monachism_, that on the occasion of his visit
to the great temple of Dambool, he encountered a troop of white
monkeys on the rock in which it is situated--which were, doubtless, a
variety of the Wanderoo.[2] PLINY was aware of the fact that white
monkeys are occasionally found in India.[3]
[Footnote 1: KNOX, pt. i.e. vi. p. 25.]
[Footnote 2: Eastern Monachism. c: xix; p. 204.]

[Footnote 3: PLINY, Nat. Hist. I. viii. c. xxxii.]
When observed in their native wilds, a party of twenty or thirty of these
creatures is generally busily engaged in the search for berries and buds.
They are seldom to be seen on the ground, except when they may have
descended to recover seeds or fruit which have fallen at the foot of their
favourite trees. When disturbed, their leaps are prodigious: but,
generally speaking, their progress is made not so much by leaping as
by swinging from branch to branch, using their powerful arms
alternately; and when baffled by distance, flinging themselves
obliquely so as to catch the lower boughs of an opposite tree, the
momentum acquired by their descent being sufficient to cause a
rebound of the branch, that carries them upwards again, till they can
grasp a higher and more distant one, and thus continue their headlong
flight. In these perilous achievements, wonder is excited less by the
surpassing agility of these little creatures, frequently encumbered as
they are by their young, which cling to them in their career, than by the
quickness of their eye and the unerring accuracy with which they seem
almost to calculate the angle at which a descent will enable them to
cover a given distance, and the recoil to attain a higher altitude.
2. The low country Wanderoo is replaced in the hills by the larger
species, _P. ursinus_, which inhabits the mountain zone. The natives,
who designate the latter the Maha or Great Wanderoo, to distinguish it
from the _Kaloo_, or black one, with which they are familiar, describe
it as much wilder, and more powerful than its congener of the lowland
forests. It is rarely seen by Europeans, this portion of the country
having till very recently been but partially opened; and even now it is
difficult to observe its habits, as it seldom approaches the few roads
which wind through these deep solitudes. At early morning, ere the day
begins to dawn, its loud and peculiar howl, which consists of a quick
repetition of the sounds _how how!_ maybe frequently heard in the
mountain jungles, and forms one of the characteristic noises of these
lofty situations. It was first captured by Dr. Kelaart in the woods near
Nuera-ellia, and from its peculiar appearance it has been named _P.
ursinus_ by Mr. Blyth.[1]
[Footnote 1: Mr. Blyth quotes as authority for this trivial name a
passage from MAJOR FORBES' _Eleven Years in Ceylon;_ and I can
vouch for the graphic accuracy of the remark.--"A species of very large

monkey, that passed some distance before me, when resting on all fours,
looked so like a Ceylon bear, that I nearly took him for one."]
3. The _P. Thersites_, which is chiefly distinguished from the others by
wanting the head tuft, is so rare that it was for some time doubtful
whether the single specimen procured by Dr. Templeton from the
Nuera-kalawa, west of Trincomalie, and on which Mr. Blyth conferred
this new name, was in reality native; but the occurrence of a second,
since identified by Dr. Kelaart, has established its existence as a
separate species. Like the common wanderoo, the one obtained by Dr.
Templeton was partial to fresh vegetables, plantains, and fruit; but he
ate freely boiled rice, beans, and gram. He was fond of being noticed
and petted, stretching out his limbs in succession to be scratched,
drawing himself up so that his ribs might be reached by the finger,
closing his eyes during the operation,