430 msTonv of 



The enmity of these animals to mankind is partly ridiculous, 

 and partly formidable. They seem, says Le Compte and others, 

 to have a peculiar instinct in discovering their foes, and are per- 

 fectly skilled when attacked, in mutually defending and assisting 

 each other. When a traveller enters among these woods, they 

 consider him as an invader upon their dominions, and all join 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 clattering, to call the rest 

 of their companions together. They begin their hostilities by 

 grinning, threatening, 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 wherever he goes ; jumping from tree to 

 tree with such amazing swiftness, that the eye can scarcely at- 

 tend their motions. Although they take the most desperate 

 leaps, yet they are seldom seen to come to the ground, for they 

 easily fasten upon the branches that break their fall, and stick, 

 either by their hands, feet, or tail, wherever they touch. I^ 

 one of them happens to be wounded, the rest assemble round, 

 and clap their fingers into the wound, as if they were clLsirou> of 

 sounding its depth. If the blood flows in any quantity, some 

 of them keep it shut up, while others get leaves, which they 

 chew, and thrust into the opening : however extraordinary this 

 may appear, it is asserted to be often seen, and to be strictly 

 true. In this manner, they wage a petulant, unequal war ; and 

 are often killed in numbers before they think proper to make 

 a retreat. This they effect with the same precipitation with 

 which they at first came together. In this retreat the young are 

 seen clinging to the back of the female, with which she jumps 

 away, seemingly unembarrassed by the burden. 



The curiosity of the Europeans has, in some measure, induced 

 the natives of the places where these animals reside to catch or 

 take them alive by every art they aie able. The usual way in 

 such case is to shoot the female as she carries her young, and 

 then both, of course, tumble to the ground. But even this is 

 not easily performed ; for if the animal be not killed outrigh/ 

 it will not fall ; but clinging to some branch, continues, even 

 when dead, its former grasp, and remains on the tree where it 

 was shot until it drops off by putrefaction : in this manaei it is 



