ORDER QUADRUMANA. 319 



the end of the lower extremities, but he was informed that 

 they do, when adult, attain above one foot more : the tail 

 is three inches long. 



The head of this animal is not much like that of a 

 monkey, being oval, but flatted at the two sides. The face 

 is very human, naked, and of a deep black colour. The 

 eyes are large, deeply seated, and brownish black in 

 colour. A few stiff black hairs are found about the 

 eyelids, mouth, and chin. The cleft which separates the 

 nostrils is very large. The chin is beardless ; the ears 

 are naked, large, and very human. All the body, with the 

 exception of the head and fore hands, is covered with a yel- 

 lowish brown fur. The hairs are long, and shining. The 

 fingers are long, the nails flattish, and the tail is thick, 

 coloured like the back, short and almost naked towards the 

 extremity. 



The Cacajao is a phlegmatic, inactive, weak, but very 

 docile little animal. He eats greedily all sorts of fruits 

 even the sourest ; these he will seize when offered him by 

 stretching out both his hands at once, bending his back and 

 body at the same time into the attitude represented in the 

 plate. His fingers are very thin and long ; he handles his 

 food with little dexterity, and eats altogether very awk- 

 wardly. He is much annoyed by the petulance of other 

 monkeys which disturbs the natural quiet of his disposition. 

 When irritated, which however, is but seldom, he opens 

 his mouth in a strange manner, and his face becomes dis- 

 figured by a sort of convulsive laugh. 



Humboldt naturally suspected that the individual in his 

 possession might have lost a part of its tail by accident, or 

 by eating it, as is known to be done by some of the monkeys 

 of the old world ; but he was assured by many of the natives 

 that it was not so, and that the shortness of the tail is a 

 distinctive character of the species, from which, indeed, 



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