278 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 
years, evidently his mother, about whose neck was 
dangling an infant a few months old. To her the 
delighted reprobate pointed us out ; inquiring, in mon- , 
key language, probably, if those objects below were 
not “a man, and a brother.” 
What a look of horror convulsed the old lady’s face 
when she saw herself in such proximity to a dreaded 
man, an enemy to her race! She turned about with 
such violence as to jerk loose the infant that clung 
about her neck, who fell to the ground. Maternal 
solicitude, even, could not arrest her flight, as she 
fled chattering to the vine-ladder, and hurriedly as- 
cended it, followed by her wondering son. 
A bark from the patriarch summoned the rest of the 
gang so quickly, that they slid over those lianas and 
out of sight behind the cliff, in less time than I can 
write it in. Not one remained, save that infant 
monkey on the ground, which was just recovering 
its scattered senses’ as little Jim darted forward to 
secure it. Quickly as Jim rushed out, the monkey 
was yet more agile, and gathered himself up and 
leaped into a clump of razor-grass. Into this the 
little negro dashed, regardless of the cuts of the 
cruel blades. 
The razor-grass is a terrible pest in these woods, 
climbing into trees and overhanging trails; every 
leaf of it which touches you clings to you and cuts 
like a jagged-edged razor. Spite of his burning 
desire to capture a monkey, Jim was obliged to stop 
and disentangle himself, and before I had gained the 
scene, the monkey was in the lianas. Slowly and 
feebly it ascended, but I could not shake it down, and 
to shoot it was out of the question. 
