THE AHAGUATO. 209 



electric state of the an ioretels rain of a storm. We 

 have met with them also in the valleys of Aragua, 

 upon the Llanos of the Apure and Lower Oronooko, 

 and in the missions of the Caribes in the province of 

 New Barcelona, but in greatest abundance near the 

 pools of stagnant water, shaded V-y the Mauritia 

 flexuosa" 



They feed on fruit as well as *:ie leaves of vege- 

 tables. The females are often seen carrying the young 

 upon the shoulder ; but no difference in the colour be- 

 tween the ages or sexes was ever perceived. Hum- 

 boldt thinks, of all gregarious monkeys, none appear so 

 numerous as this species : upon the banks of the Apure 

 he has counted above forty upon one tree ; and he lias 

 no doubt, that upon a square league of these wild 

 countries, above two thousand may be found. 



" The eye, voice, and gait, denote melancholy. I 

 have seen young Araguatoes brought up in the Indian 

 huts, which never play like the Sagoins ; and their 

 gravity was described with much simplicity by Lopez 

 de Gomara in the beginning of the sixteenth century. 

 ' The Araguata de los cumanenses? says this author, 

 ' has the face of a man, the beard of a goat, and a 

 grave behaviour.' "* 



The Araguato has something the appearance of a 

 young bear; it is nearly three feet in length indepen- 



Personal Narrative, lii. p. 172. 



