302 Life and Immortality. 



modification of details. Their four hand-like paws, and 

 other quadrumanous peculiarities, would indicate their status 

 in the animal kingdom, while sundry differences of confor- 

 mation would show that they were intended to live under 

 conditions that would ill suit their relatives on the other side 

 of the globe. Curious it is to observe how the same idea of 

 animal life is repeated in various lands and climates, even 

 though seas, impassable to creatures unaided by the light of 

 civilized reason, intervene. So we have the Simiadae of 

 Asia and Africa represented by the Cebidae of America. 

 Nor is this wonderful idea restricted exclusively to the man- 

 like animals. The lion, tiger and other feline races of the 

 Eastern Continent find Western representatives in the 

 puma and jaguar, and the same circumstance may be ob- 

 served of nearly all the mammalia, the birds, the reptiles, 

 the fishes, and, in short, through the entire animal kingdom. 

 But of all the monkeys of the New World, and they are 

 numbered by hundreds included in several genera and 

 species, there are none that deserve more consideration than 

 the Capuchin Monkeys. They are active, little animals, lively 

 and playful. So similar are all the species in general habits, 

 that a description of one will equally serve for any other. 

 Their youthfulness and sportive manners make them very 

 desirable companions, and hence we frequently find them 

 domesticated by the native Indians and European settlers. 

 Like other small monkeys, the Capuchin often strikes up a 

 friendship for other animals that may happen to live in or 

 near its home, the cat being one of the most favored of its 

 allies. It is sometimes the case this familiarity is carried so 

 far that the cat is turned into a horse by the monkey, who, 

 seated upon her back, perambulates the premises. More 

 unpromising subjects, we are told, have been pressed into 

 similar service. Humboldt cites the case of one that was 

 accustomed to catch a pig every morning, and, mounted 

 upon its back, was known to retain its seat during the entire 

 day. Even when the pig was feeding in the savannas its 



