HOWLING MONKEYS. 



81 



often noticed by travellers, and whose reverberating cries rend their ears. Little chance is 

 there that the Howling Monkeys should ever fade from the memory of any one who has once 

 suffered an unwilling martyrdom from their mournful yells. 



Few animals have deserved the name which they bear so well as the Howling Monkeys. 

 Their horrid yells are so loud, that they can be heard plainly although the animals which pro- 

 duce them are more than a mile distant ; and the sounds that issue from their curiously formed 

 throats are strangely simulative of the most discordant outcries of various other animals the 

 jaguar being one of the most favorite subjects for imitation. Throughout the entire night their 

 dismal ululations resound, persecuting the ears of the involuntarily wakeful traveller with, their 



HOWLING MONKEYS. Mycete seniculut. 



oppressive pertinacity, and driving far from his wearied senses the shimber which he courts, 

 but courts in vain. As if to give greater energy to the performance, and to worry their neigh- 

 bors as much as possible, the Araguatos have a fashion of holding conversations, in which 

 each member does his best to overpower the rest. 



A similar custom is in vogue with many of the African and Asiatic monkeys, but with 

 this difference. The above-mentioned animals certainly lift up their voices together, but then, 

 each individual appears to be talking on his own account, so that the sound, although it is 

 sufficiently loud to affect a listener's ears most unpleasantly, is disjointed and undecided. 



But the Howlers give forth their cries with a consentaneous accord, that appears to be the 

 result of discipline rather than of instinct alone. 



Indeed, the natives assert that in each company, one monkey takos the lead, and acting as 

 toast-master, or as conductor of an orchestra, gives a signal which is followed by the rest of 

 the band. The result of the combined voices of these stentorian animals may be imagined. 



