Sketches of Natural History of Ceylon | Page 7

Ceylon in 1852, and more recently by Professor Schmarda, of the University of Prague. From the united labours of these gentlemen and others interested in the same pursuits, we may hope at an early day to obtain such a knowledge of the zoology of Ceylon as will to some extent compensate for the long indifference of the government officers.
[Footnote 1: _Prodromus Faun? Zeylanic?; being Contributions to the Zoology of Ceylon_, by F. KELAART, Esq., M.D., F.L.S., &c. &c. 2 vols. Colombo and London, 1852.]
[Illustration: CEYLON MONKEYS.
1. _Presbytes cephalopterus._ 2. _P. thersites_ 3. _P. Priamus_ 4. _Macacus pileatus_]
I. QUADRUMANA. 1. Monkeys.--To a stranger in the tropics, among the most attractive creatures in the forests are the troops of monkeys that career in ceaseless chase among the loftiest trees. In Ceylon there are five species, four of which belong to one group, the Wanderoos, and the other is the little graceful grimacing _rilawa_[1], which is the universal pet and favourite of both natives and Europeans. The Tamil conjurors teach it to dance, and in their wanderings carry it from village to village, clad in a grotesque dress, to exhibit its lively performances. It does not object to smoke tobacco. The Wanderoo is too grave and melancholy to be trained to these drolleries.
[Footnote 1: _Macacus pileatus_, Shaw and Desmarest. The "bonneted Macaque" is common in the south and west; it is replaced on the neighbouring coast of the Peninsula of India by the Toque, _M. radiatus_, which closely resembles it in size, habit, and form, and in the peculiar appearance occasioned by the hairs radiating from the crown of the head. A spectacled monkey is said to inhabit the low country near to Bintenne; but I have never seen one brought thence. A paper by Dr. TEMPLETON, in the _Mag. Nat. Hist._ n. s. xiv. p. 361, contains some interesting facts relative to the Rilawa of Ceylon.]
KNOX, in his captivating account of the island, gives an accurate description of both; the Rilawas, with "no beards, white faces, and long hair on the top of their heads, which parteth and hangeth down like a man's, and which do a deal of mischief to the corn, and are so impudent that they will come into their gardens and eat such fruit as grows there. And the Wanderoos, some as large as our English spaniel dogs, of a darkish grey colour, and black faces with great white beards round from ear to ear, which makes them show just like old men. This sort does but little mischief, keeping in the woods, eating only leaves and buds of trees, but when they are catched they will eat anything."[1]
[Footnote 1: KNOX, _Historical Relation of Ceylon, an Island in the East Indies_.--P. i. ch. vi. p. 25. Fol. Lond. 1681. See an account of his captivity in SIR J. EMERSON TENNENT'S _Ceylon_, etc., Vol. II. p. 66 n.]
KNOX, whose experience during his long captivity was confined almost exclusively to the hill country around Kandy, spoke in all probability of one large and comparatively powerful species, _Presbytes ursinus_, which inhabits the lofty forests, and which, as well as another of the same group, _P. Thersites_, was, till recently, unknown to European naturalists. The Singhalese word Ouandura has a generic sense, and being in every respect the equivalent fur our own term of "monkey" it necessarily comprehends the low country species, as well as those which inhabit other parts of the island. In point of fact, there are no less than four animals in the island, each of which is entitled to the name of "wanderoo."[1] Each separate species has appropriated to itself a different district of the wooded country, and seldom encroaches on the domain of its neighbours.
[Footnote 1: Down to a very late period, a large and somewhat repulsive-looking monkey, common to the Malabar coast, the Silenus veter, _Linn._, was, from the circumstance of his possessing a "great white beard," incorrectly assumed to be the "wanderoo" of Ceylon, described by KNOX; and under that usurped name it has figured in every author from Buffon to the present time. Specimens of the true Singhalese species were, however, received in Europe; but in the absence of information in this country as to their actual habitat, they were described, first by Zimmerman, on the continent, under the name of, _Leucoprymnus cephalopterus_, and subsequently by Mr. E. Bennett, under that of Semnopithecus Nestor (_Proc. Zool. Soc._ pt. i. p. 67: 1833); the generic and specific characters being on this occasion most carefully pointed out by that eminent naturalist. Eleven years later Dr. Templeton forwarded to the Zoological Society a description, accompanied by drawings, of the wanderoo of the western maritime districts of Ceylon, and noticed the fact that the wanderoo of authors (_S. veter_) was not to be found in the island except