o effectually can they crouch and conceal themselves among
the leaves that, on the slightest alarm, the whole party becomes
invisible in an instant. The presence of a dog, however, excites such an
irrepressible curiosity that, in order to watch his movements, they
never fail to betray themselves. They may be seen frequently congregated
on the roof of a native hut; and, some years ago, the child of a
European clergyman stationed at Tillipalli having been left on the
ground by the nurse, was so teased and bitten by them as to cause its
death.

The Singhalese have the impression that the remains of a monkey are
never found in the forest; a belief which they have embodied in the
proverb that "he who has seen a white crow, the nest of a paddy bird, a
straight coco-nut tree, or a dead monkey, is certain to live for ever."
This piece of folk-lore has evidently reached Ceylon from India, where
it is believed that persons dwelling on the spot where a hanuman monkey,
_S. entellus_, has been killed, will die, and that even its bones are
unlucky, and that no house erected where they are hid under ground can
prosper. Hence when a house is to be built, it is one of the employments
of the Jyotish philosophers to ascertain by their science that none such
are concealed; and Buchanan observes that "it is, perhaps, owing to this
fear of ill-luck that no native will acknowledge his having seen a dead
hanuman."[1]

[Footnote 1: BUCHANAN'S _Survey of Bhagulpoor_, p. 142. At Gibraltar it
is believed that the body of _a dead monkey_ is never found on the
rock.]

The only other quadrumanous animal found in Ceylon is the little
loris[1], which, from its sluggish movements, nocturnal habits, and
consequent inaction during the day, has acquired the name of the "Ceylon
Sloth." There are two varieties in the island; one of the ordinary
fulvous brown, and another larger, whose fur is entirely black. A
specimen of the former was sent to me from Chilaw, on the western coast,
and lived for some time at Colombo, feeding on rice, fruit, and
vegetables. It was partial to ants and other insects, and always eager
for milk or the bone of a fowl. The naturally slow motion of its limbs
enables the loris to approach its prey so stealthily that it seizes
birds before they can be alarmed by its presence. The natives assert
that it has been known to strangle the pea-fowl at night, and feast on
the brain. During the day the one which I kept was usually asleep in