23<* lloVd's natural HistorV. 



a wonderful degree of flexibility. It is always in motion, 

 coiling and uncoiling like the trunk of an Elephant, and 

 grasping whatever comes within reach. . . . The flesh 

 of the Coaitas is much esteemed by the natives in this part of 

 the country [Obydos, on the Amazon]. . . . One day I went 

 on a Coaita hunt. When in the deepest part of a ravine we 

 heard a rustling sound in the trees overhead, and Manoel [the 

 guide] pointed out a Coaita to me. There was something 

 human-like in its appearance [which is very characteristic of 

 them], as the lean, dark, shaggy creature moved deliberately 

 amongst the branches at a great height. I fired, but unfor- 

 tunately only wounded it in the belly. It fell with a crash 

 headlong about twenty or thirty feet, and then caught a bough 

 with its tail, which grasped it instantaneously, and then the 

 animal remained suspended in mid-air. Before I could re-load 

 it recovered itself, and mounted nimbly to the topmost branches 

 out of the reach of a fowling-piece, where we could perceive the 

 poor thing, apparently probing the wound with its fingers. 

 Coaitas are more frequently kept in a tame state than any 

 other kind of Monkey. The Indians are very fond of them 

 as pets, and the women often suckle them when young at 

 tvheir breasts. "'^ They become attached to their masters, and 

 will sometimes follow them on the ground to considerable 

 distances. . . . The disposition of the Coaita is mild in 

 the extreme ; it has none of the painful, restless vivacity of its 

 kindred, the Cebi, and no trace of the surly, untameable temper 

 of its still nearer relatives, the Mycetes^ or Howling-Monkeys. 

 It is, however, an arrant thief, and shows considerable cunning 



* This curious custom, of women suckling animals, was also observed by 

 the present writer in New Guinea, where the native women suckle puppies 

 and young pigs. 



