306 ANIMALS OF EGA. Chap. V. 



the interest belonging to the study of the living crea- 

 tion. The structure, habits, instincts, and geographical 

 distribution of some of the oldest-known forms supply 

 inexhaustible materials for reflection. The few remarks 

 I have to make on the animals of Ega will relate to the 

 mammals, birds, and insects, and will sometimes apply to 

 the productions of the whole Upper Amazons region. 

 We will begin with the monkeys, the most interesting, 

 next to man, of all animals. 



Scarlet-faced Monkeys. — Early one sunny morning, 

 in the year 1855, I saw in the streets of Ega, a 

 number of Indians carrying on their shoulders down to 

 the port, to be embarked on the Upper Amazons steamer, 

 a large cage made of strong lianas, some twelve feet in 

 length and five in height, containing a dozen monkeys 

 of the most grotesque appearance. Their bodies (about 

 eighteen inches in height, exclusive of limbs) were 

 clothed from neck to tail with very long, straight, and 

 shining whitish hair ; their heads were nearly bald, 

 owing to the very short crop of thin gray hairs, and 

 their faces glowed with the most vivid scarlet hue. As 

 a finish to their striking physiognomy, they had bushy 

 wjiiskers of a sandy colour, meeting under the chin, 

 and reddish-yellow eyes. They sat gravely and silently 

 in a group, and altogether presented a strange spec- 

 tacle. These red-faced apes belonged to a species called 

 by the Indians Uakari, which is peculiar to the Ega 

 district, and the cage with its contents was being sent 

 as a present by Senhor Chrysostomo, the Director of 

 Indians of the Japura, to one of the Government offi- 

 cials at Rio Janeiro, in acknowledgment of having 



