306 ANIMALS OF THE 



branches on which the snakes were reposing, and 

 jumping over them without receiving any injury, 

 although the serpents of that country were natu- 

 rally vindictive, and always ready to bite what- 

 ever disturbed them." These gambols, however, 

 were probably nothing more than the insults of 

 an enemy that was conscious of its own safety ; 

 and the monkeys might have provoked the snake 

 in the same manner as w T e often see sparrows 

 twitter at a cat. However this be, the forest 

 is generally divided between them ; and these 

 woods, which nature seems to have embellished 

 with her richest magnificence, rather inspire ter- 

 ror than delight, and chiefly serve as retreats for 

 mischief and malignity. 



The enmity of these animals to mankind, is 

 partly ridiculous, and partly formidable. They 

 seem, says Le Compte and others, to have a pe- 

 culiar instinct in discovering their foes ; and are 

 perfectly skilled, when attacked, in mutually de- 

 fending and assisting each other. When a tra- 

 veller enters among these woods, they consider 

 him as an invader upon their dominions, and join 

 all to repel the intrusion. At first they survey 

 him with a kind of insolent curiosity. They 

 jump from branch to branch, pursue him as he 

 goes along, and make a loud chattering, to call 

 the rest of their companions together. They 

 then begin their hostilities by grinning, threaten- 

 ing, and flinging down the withered branches at 

 him, which they break from the trees : they even 

 take their excrements in their hands, and throw 

 them at his head. Thus they attend him where- 



