210 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



eral miles ended at a manganese-mine which penetrated 

 into the mountainside about three hundred feet. Although 

 the mine had been by no means exhausted, it was no longer 

 worked, owing to the great expense of transporting the 

 ore. The dark, deserted tunnel was an ideal resort for 

 bats of not less than four species; one of them (Mimon ben- 

 netti) was of considerable size. We entered the mine with 

 a lighted candle, but the bats invariably soon put out the 

 light with their wings. Each kind, it seemed, occupied a 

 different part of the tunnel. At first they were slow to 

 leave their places of concealment in the crevices between 

 the rocks, but after a few days' persecution numbers of 

 them rushed from the mine and disappeared over the top 

 of the mountain at the mere appearance of the lighted can- 

 dle in the entrance. The men who accompanied me on 

 these excursions refused to enter the dark opening in the 

 mountainside, as they said it was infested with poisonous 

 snakes; but, although we explored it thoroughly on several 

 occasions, not a single reptile was ever seen. 



In walking through the forest we always saw animals 

 that were of more than passing interest. One day I sur- 

 prised a tiger-cat in the trail; it ran a few yards and then 

 started up a tree, rapidly climbing about twenty-five feet, 

 and then clung to the rough bark; it remained perfectly 

 motionless and permitted me to walk up to within a short 

 distance of the base of the tree. A short time later I came 

 upon two cebus monkeys feeding in the branches above the 

 trail. I shot at one of them, wounding it. The other was 

 fully ten yards away, but rushed to the rescue, and taking 

 up the wounded animal started off with it at a rapid pace. 

 Most South American monkeys will promptly desert a 

 comrade in danger or trouble, but in this instance it was a 

 female with her two-thirds-grown offspring, and the mother- 

 love was so much stronger than her fear that she exposed 

 herself to danger without hesitation, in saving her distressed 

 young. 



One of the most surprising animals encountered in the 



