384 NATURAL HISTORY READER. 



— who has gained in this, his purgatorial stage of existence, 

 nothing save a well-earned tail. At all events, more than 

 one of us was impressed, at the first sight, with the convic- 

 tion that we had seen him before. 



8. Poor Jack ! and it is come to this ; and all from the 

 indulgence of his five senses plus "the sixth sense of van- 

 it) 7 . " His only recreation save eating is being led about 

 by the mulatto turnkey, the one human being with whom 

 he, dimly understanding what is fit for him, will at all con- 

 sort ; and having wild pines thrown down to him from the 

 pine-tree above by the spider-monkey, whose gambols he 

 watches with pardonable envy. Like the great Mr. Barry 

 Lyndon, he can not understand why the world is so unjust 

 and foolish as to have taken a prejudice against him. 

 After all, he is nothing but a strong, nasty brute ; and his 

 only reason for being here is that he is a new and unde- 

 scribed species, never seen before, and, it is to be hoped, 

 never to be seen again. charles Kingd ^ 



THE LIVING BRIDGE. 



1. The noise that we heard we now ascertained pro- 

 ceeded from an army of monkeys on their march through 

 the forest. As they approached the stream we could very 

 clearly see all their movements. " They are coming toward 

 the bridge ; they will most likely cross by the rocks yon- 

 der," observed Raoul. "How — swim it ? " I asked. " It 

 is a torrent there." " Oh, no ! " answered the Frenchman ; 

 "monkeys would rather go into the fire than water. If 

 they can not leap the stream, they will bridge it." " Bridge 

 it! and how?" "Stop a moment, Captain; you shall 

 see." The half-human voices now sounded nearer, and we 

 could perceive that the animals were approaching the spot 



