230 ALLEN’S NATURALIST’S LIBRARY. 
a wonderful degree of flexibility. It is always in motion, 
coiling and uncoiling like the trunk of an Elephant, and 
grasping whatever comes within reach. . . . The flesh 
of the Coaitas is much esteemed by the natives in this part of 
the country [Obydos, on the Amazon]. . . . OnedayI went 
on a Coaita hunt. When in the deepest part of a ravine we 
heard a rustling sound in the trees overhead, and Manoel [the 
guide| pointed out a Coaita to me. There was something 
human-like in its appearance[which is very characteristic of 
them], as the lean, dark, shaggy creature moved deliberately 
amongst the branches at a great height. I fired, but unfor- 
tunately only wounded it in the belly. It fell with a crash 
headlong about twenty or thirty feet, and then caught a bough 
with its tail, which grasped it instantaneously, and then the 
animal remained suspended in mid-air. Before I could re-load 
it recovered itself, and mounted nimbly to the topmost branches 
out of the reach of a fowling-piece, where we could perceive the 
poor thing, apparently probing the wound with its fingers. 
Coaitas are more frequently kept in a tame state than any 
other kind of Monkey. ‘The Indians are very fond of them 
as pets, and the women often suckle them when young at 
their breasts.* They become attached to their masters, and 
will sometimes follow them on the ground to considerable 
distances. . . . The disposition of the Coaita is mild in 
the extreme ; it has none of the painful, restless vivacity of its 
kindred, the Cedz, and no trace of the surly, untameable temper 
of its still nearer relatives, the J7Zycetes, or Howling-Monkeys. 
It is, however, an arrant thief, and shows considerable cunning 
* This curious custom, of women suckling animals, was also observed by 
the present writer in New Guinea, where the native women suckle puppies 
and young pigs. 
