SAPAJOUS. 149 



iieHsed towaids tln'soiirci' of tlie Oiiuoco, Init wliicli is unknown on the l)ank8of the 

 haver rivers. Tlie noises of animals be<,faii just us the sun sank beneath the trees 

 after a sweltering aftenioon, leaving the sky above of the intensest shade of blue. 

 Two flocks of howling monkeys, one close to our canoe, the other about a furlou"- 

 distant, filled the echoing forest with their dismal roaring." 



We have alreadj' mentioned the circumstance tiiat a European traveller on one 

 occasion supped on roast baboon ; and we maj- here call attention to the fact that 

 in Humboldt's time monkey-flesh fonned a by no means inconsiderable portion of 

 the food of the natives of certain parts of Soutli America, at least on particular 

 occasion.s. Humboldt tells us that when his party was travelling in Ecuador, and 

 had arrived at Esmeraldas, they found a native festival in progress. And in the 

 room where the feast was held they observed luimbers of large roasted monkeys (of 

 what species we are not informed), blackened bj- smoke, and arranged round the 

 walls. These monkeys were bent into a sitting posture, with the head generally 

 resting on the long and skiiniy arms, and hail been roasted by being placed on a 

 grating of \ery hard wood over a clear fire. Humboldt observes that on seeing 

 the natives devouring an arm or leg of one of tliese roa.sted monkeys, it was 

 difficult not to Ixdieve that this habit of eating animals so closely resembling man 

 in their physical oi-ganisation, had, to a cei-tain degree, contributed to diminish 

 among these people the horror of cannibalism. 



THK S.\P.\.IOT-S, OI? r.VPT'CHIX MONKEYS. - 



Geinis ( 'fill's. 



The long and priihensile-tailed monkeys so commonly seen in menageries, and 

 known respectively as .sapajous or capuchin monkeys, and spider-monkej-s, may be 

 regarded as the tj-pical repre.sentatives of the family Cehida' ; and, together with 

 two other genera, constitute a group which can be easily recognised, and as easily 

 distinguished from all their cousin.s. With the exception of the howlers, of which 

 more anon, this group of monkeys is indeed the only one furnished with prehensile 

 tails : and, altogether apart from the question of voice, and the presence of certain 

 structures connected therewith, all its members differ from the howlers by their 

 rounded heads, and the nearly vertical plane of the face. 



The sapajous may at once be distinguished from the three other genera 

 included in this group by the circumstance that their tails, which are comparatively 

 stout and of only moderate length, have no naked pai-t on the lower surface of the 

 extremity. In this respect they are not so perfectly adapted for the purpose of 

 prehension as are those of the other genera. Another feature of these monkeys is 

 that the hair does not partake of a woolly nature : while the general build of the 

 body is i-ather stout : the arms and legs acconling in this respect with the body, 

 not being excessively long nor excessively .slender. 



The native name of these monkeys on the Amazon is Caiarara, or " macaw- 

 headed," the woi-d Arara meaning a macaw. It seems, however, that Caiarara is 

 abbreviated frequently into Cai, and from the latter it appears that the name 



