106 BICK I'.i l PBOUD. 



his tail : and, 1 « ■ 1 1 i t 1 '_r fall the rest of his body, Bwings 

 himself till in one of his oscillations he reaches the neigh- 

 bouring branch. The whole file performs the same 

 movements on the same spot The Indians told the 

 travellers that when the monkeys filled the forests with 

 their howling, there was always one that chaunted as 

 leader of the chorus. During a Long interval one soli- 

 tary and Btrong voice was generally distinguished, till 

 its place was taken by another voice of a different pitch. 

 The Missionaries asserted that when a female among 

 them was on the point of bringing forth, the choir sus- 

 pended its howlings till the moment of the birth of the 

 young. 



At Guigue they lodged with an old sergeant, a native 

 of Murcia, a man of a very original character. To prove 

 to them that he had studied among the Jesuits, he re- 

 cited the history of the creation of the world in Latin, 

 lie knew the names of Augustus, Tiberius, and Diocle- 

 tian ; and while enjoying the agreeable coolness of the 

 nights in an Inclosure planted with bananas, he employed 

 himself in reading all that related to the courts of the 

 R .man emperors. He inquired of Humboldt for a remedy 

 for the gout, from which he Buffered severely. "Iknow," 

 said he, "a Xanibo of Valencia, a famous CUrioso } who 



ci >uld cure me; but the Zambo would expect to be treated 

 with attentions which T cannot pay to a man of his 

 > I prefer remaining as 1 am." 

 In the Mesa de Paja, in the ninth degree of latitude, 

 they entered the basin of the Llano-. The sun was 

 almosl at its zenith; the earth, wherever it appeared 

 B1 rile and destitute of vegetation, was at the temperature 

 of 118° or 122*. Not a breath of air was felt at the height 



