386 NATURAL HISTORY READER. * 



the intermediate links from the violence of a too sudden 

 jerk. 



4. The chain was now fast at both ends, forming a com- 

 plete suspension bridge, over which the whole troop, to the 

 number of four or five hundred, passed with the rapidity 

 of thought. It was one of the most comical sights I ever 

 beheld to witness the quizzical expression of countenances 

 along that living chain ! The troop was now on the other 

 side, but how were the animals forming the bridge to get 

 themselves over ? This was the question that suggested 

 itself. Manifestly, by number one letting go his tail. But 

 then the point of support on the other side was much lower 

 down, and number one, with half a dozen of his neighbors, 

 would be dashed against the opposite bank, or soused into 

 the water. 



5. Here, then, was a problem, and we waited with some 

 curiosity for its solution. It was soon solved. A monkey 

 was now seen attaching his tail to the lowest on the bridge, 

 another girdled him in a similar manner, and another, and 

 so on, until a dozen more were added to the string. These 

 last were all powerful fellows ; and, running up to a high 

 limb, they lifted the bridge into a position almost horizon- 

 tal. Then a scream from the last monkey of the new for- 

 mation warned the tail end that all was ready, and the 

 next moment the whole chain was swung over and landed 

 safely on the opposite bank. The lowermost links now 

 dropped off like a melting candle, while the higher ones 

 leaped to the branches and came down by the trunk. The 

 whole troop then scampered off into the chaparral and 



disappeared. Adventures in the Tropics. 



