Cuap. IX. CEBI MONKEYS. 229 
inlet, on whose banks, hidden amongst the dense woods, were the houses 
of a few Indian and mameluco settlers. The path to the cattle farm led 
first through a tract of swampy forest; it then ascended a slope and 
emerged on a fine sweep of prairie, varied with patches of timber. The 
wooded portion occupied the hollows, where the soil was of a rich 
chocolate-brown colour, and of a peaty nature. The highly grassy, un- 
dulating parts of the campo had a lighter and more sandy soil. Leaving 
our friends, I and José took our guns and dived into the woods in 
search of the monkeys. As we walked rapidly along I was very near 
treading on a rattlesnake, which lay stretched out nearly in a straight 
line on the bare sandy pathway. It made no movement to get out of 
the way, and I escaped the danger by a timely and sudden leap, being 
unable to check my steps in the hurried walk. We tried to excite the 
sluggish reptile by throwing handfuls of sand and sticks at it, but the only 
notice it took was to raise its ugly horny tailand shake its rattle. Atlength 
it began to move rather nimbly, when we dispatched it by a blow on the 
head with a pole, not wishing to fire on account of alarming our game. 
We saw nothing of the white Caiardra ; we met, however, with a flock 
of the common light-brown allied species (Cebus albifrons ?), and killed 
one asaspecimen. A resident on this side of the river told us that the 
white kind was found further to the south, beyond Santa Cruz. The 
light-brown Caiardra is pretty generally distributed over the forests of 
the level country. I saw it very frequently on the banks of the Upper 
Amazons, where it was always a treat to watch a flock leaping amongst 
the trees, for it is the most wonderful performer in this line of the whole 
tribe. The troops consist of thirty or more individuals, which travel in 
single file. When the foremost of the flock reaches the outermost 
branch of an unusually lofty tree, he springs forth into the air without a 
moment’s hesitation, and alights on the dome of yielding foliage belong- 
ing to the neighbouring tree, maybe fifty feet beneath: all the rest 
following the example. They grasp, on falling, with hands and tail, right 
themselves in a moment, and then away they go along branch and 
bough to the next tree. The Caiardra owes its name in the Tupi 
language, macaw or large-headed (Acain, head, and Ardara, macaw), to 
the disproportionate size of the head compared with the rest of the 
body. It is very frequently kept as a pet in houses of natives. I kept 
one myself for about a year, which accompanied me in my voyages and 
became very familiar, coming to me always on wet nights to share my 
blanket. It is a most restless creature, but is not playful like most of 
the American monkeys; the restlessness of its disposition seeming to 
arise from great nervous irritability and discontent. The anxious, 
painful, changeable expression of its countenance, and the want of 
purpose in its movements, betray this. Its actions are like those of a 
wayward child ; it does not seem happy even when it has plenty of its 
favourite food, bananas; but will leave its own meal to snatch the 
morsels out of the hands of its companions. It differs in these mental 
traits from its nearest kindred, for another common Cebus, found in the 
same parts of the forest, the Prego monkey (Cebus cirrhifer ?), is a much 
quieter and better-tempered animal; it is full of tricks, but these are 
generally of a playful character. 
