ion, called Lungoor,[2] gambol from spray to spray in
happy amusement: sometimes they crowd in numbers on one branch, by which
means their weight nearly brings the end of the bough to the surface of
the water; on which occasion it is by no means unusual for one or more of
their number to be lessened.

Whether the monkeys told their thoughts or not, my informant did not say,
but the retailers of this story assert, that the oldest monkey was aware
that his missing brethren had been seized by an alligator from the branch
of the tree, whilst they were enjoying their amusement. This old monkey,
it would seem, resolved on revenging the injury done to his tribe, and
formed a plan for retaliating on the common enemy of his race.

The monkeys were observed by the villagers, for many successive days,
actively occupied in collecting the fibrous bark of certain trees, which
they were converting into a thick rope. The novelty of this employment
surprised the peasants and induced them to watch daily for the result.
When the rope was completed, from sixty to seventy of the strongest
monkeys conveyed it to the tree: having formed a noose at one end with the
nicest care, the other end was secured by them to the overhanging arm of
the tree. This ready, they commenced their former gambols, jumping about
and crowding on the same branch which had been so fatal to many of their
brethren.

The alligator, unconscious of the stratagem thus prepared to secure him,
sprang from the water as the branch descended but instead of catching the
monkey he expected, he was himself caught in the noose; and the monkeys
moving away rather precipitately, the alligator was drawn considerably
above the surface of the water. The more he struggled the firmer he was
held by the noose; and here was his skeleton to be seen many years after,
suspended from the tree over the water, until time and the changes of
season released the blanched bones from their exalted situation, to
consign them to their more natural element in the lake below.

On one occasion, a Hindoo traveller on his way to Muttra, from his place
of residence, drew down the resentment of the monkeys inhabiting the same
forest, by his inattention to their well-known habits. The story is told
as follows:--

'The man was travelling with all his worldly wealth about his person: viz.,
fifty gold mohurs, (each nearly equal to two pounds in value[3]), and a
few rupees, the savings of many a year's hard ser