148 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



she would fall and the baby be unhurt;* how- 

 ever, the ball only broke her arm, when she 

 shifted her child to the other arm, and tried 

 to climb but could not. She then placed the 

 little one on her back, and, with the assist- 

 ance of another monkey, who was also 

 wounded, raised herself from branch to branch 

 of the surrounding trees and, I was very glad 

 to see, escaped. 



However affectionate they may be one 

 to another, they are treacherous beasts in 

 general ; a great many called tame, will, on 

 no provocation, bite very severely. I believe 

 there are many officers, and civilians also, 

 who remember old " Bob,'' the great ape 

 chained up in the forty-third barrack-yard at 

 Gibraltar ; though petted and never teazed, 

 he would often bite the hand that fed him. 

 Eheu ! poor Bob ! he was bit in the lip by a 

 small dog, and died forty hours afterwards of 

 hydrophobia : — there are many who still 

 remember his dreadful fits and sufferings. 



The racoon is called by the Indians " Pi- 

 sote," and so much do some of his habits re- 



* The easiest way to procure a young monkey is to 

 look out for a she monkey, with a young one in her 

 arms ; if she falls down she is generally between the 

 ground and the young one, who is seldom hurt. 



