RED MONKEY. 9 



day-time; and if you advance cautiously beneath the 

 high tufted tree where he is sitting, you may observe 

 the ease with which he produces those discordant 

 sounds. 



Red Monkeys abound in the wildest parts of De- 

 merara. They may be seen on the topmost boughs 

 of the towering mora, when it rises, bleached with 

 age, above the young green foliage of the forest, or 

 garnished with parasitic leaves and verdure. The 

 wild fig-tree, large as a common apple-tree, often 

 rears itself from one of the thick branches, and when 

 its fruit is ripe, innumerable birds resort thither, as 

 to an annual banquet. The wind, that random 

 sower, first planted it, in some hole made by the 

 woodpecker, and there, nested in the wood, and 

 nourished by the sap of the parent tree, it grew 

 rapidly, till, emerging forth into full bearing, it also 

 contributed a portion of its own juices to the growth 

 of different kinds of vine, the seeds of which had 

 been likewise deposited in its branches. These 

 quickly vegetated and bore fruit in abundance. 

 Then the stately mora, unequal to support the usurp- 

 ation of the fig-tree, faded beneath the burden; the 

 fig-tree also, having no root of her own, and being 

 unable to draw nourishment from the sapless trunk, 

 gradually declined, till her usurping progeny of 

 vines, receiving no further aid, failed and withered 

 in their turn. Thus they stand like pyramids of 

 dried boughs, in striking contrast to the beauty 

 and luxuriance of the forest. Yet the Toucan 

 often perches on them; Parrots, too, and the Red 

 Monkey, gambol among the dry branches. A looker- 

 on might almost fancy that the one delighted to con- 



