PART XIV. 

 FOUR-HANDED FOLKS. 



HOUSEHOLD PETS IN TRINIDAD. 



1. The queen of all the pets is a black and gray spider- 

 monkey from Guiana, consisting of a tail which has devel- 

 oped, at one end, a body about twice as big as a hare's ; 

 four arms (call them not legs), of which the front ones have 

 no thumbs, nor rudiments of thumbs ; a head of black 

 hair, brushed forward over the foolish, kindly, greedy, sad 

 face with its wide, suspicious, beseeching eyes ; and a mouth 

 which, as in all these American monkeys, as far as we 

 have seen, can have no expression, not even that of sen- 

 suality, because it had no lips. Others have described the 

 spider-monkey as four legs and a tail, tied in a knot in the 

 middle ; but the tail is, without doubt, the most important 

 of the five limbs. 



2. Wherever the monkey goes, whatever she does, the 

 tail is the standing-point, or rather hanging - point. It 

 takes one turn at least round something or other provision- 

 ally, and in case it should be wanted ; often, as she swings, 

 every other limb hangs in the most ridiculous repose, and 

 the tail alone supports. Sometimes it carries, by way of 

 ornament, a bunch of flowers or a live kitten. Sometimes 

 it is curled round the neck, or carried over the head in the 

 hands, out of harm's way ; or, when she comes silently up 



