100 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



in great estimation, because they appear to possess a greater degree of gravity and intelligence than 

 the others. They train them for their ceremonies and their games, and they sometimes acquit them- 

 selves with so much ability and skill as to excite the greatest mirth and astonishment. 1 ' 



To this account we may add that of Robert Knox, who was detained a prisoner in the island of 

 Ceylon for nearly twenty years. He says that some of the monkies found there are as large as our 

 English spaniel dogs, of a darkish grey colour, and black faces, with great white beards round from 

 ear to ear, which make them look just like old men. They commit very little damage to the culti- 

 vated lands, for they always live in the woods on the buds and the leaves of trees, although they may 

 be habituated to other kinds of food. They are of a very violent and ferocious character, when they 

 are ill used. Barbot, in his Voyage to Guinea, and Bosman, designate the Wanderows as little 

 bearded men, about two feet high, as black as jet, with long white beards. The negroes set a great 

 value on the skins of this species, and sell them to one another at eighteen or twenty shillings each. 

 Of the skins of these they make their caps, for the Tie Ties, or public criers. 



The Coaita is a monkey with a long flat face, of a swarthy flesh colour ; eyes sunk in the head ; 

 ears like the human ; limbs of great length, and uncommonly slender ; hair long, black, and rough ; 

 only four fingers on the hands, being quite destitute of a thumb ; five toes on the feet ; nails flat ; tail 

 long and naked underneath, near the end ; body slender, about a foot and a half long ; tail nearly 

 two feet in length, and so prehensile as to serve every purpose of a hand. 



They inhabit the neighbourhood of Carthagena, Guiana, Brazil, and Peru. They associate in 

 vast herds, and are scarcely ever seen on the ground. Dampier describes their gambols in a lively 

 manner. " There was," says he, "a great company dancing from tree to tree over my head, chatter- 

 ing and making a terrible noise, and a great many grim faces and antic gestures. Some broke down 

 dry sticks, and flung them at me; others scattered their urine and dung about my ears; but one, 

 bigger than the rest, came to a small limb just over my head, and leaping directly at me, made me 

 leap back ; but the monkey caught hold of the bough with the tip of her tail, and thus continued 

 swinging to and fro, making mouths at me. The females with their young ones are much troubled 

 to leap after the males, for they have commonly two ; one she carries under her arm, the other sits on 

 her back, and clasps its two fore paws about her neck. They are very sullen when taken, and very 

 hard to be got when shot, for they will cling with the tail or feet to a bough, as long as any life 

 remains. When I have shot at one, and broken a leg or arm, I have pitied the poor creature to see 

 it lick and handle the broken limb, and turn it from side to side." 



They are the most active of monkies, and quite enliven the forests of America. In order to pass 

 from top to top of lofty trees, whose branches are too distant for a leap, they will form a chain by 

 hanging down linked to each other by their tails, and swinging in that manner till the lowest catches 

 hold of the next tree, and draws up the rest, and sometimes they pass rivers by the same expedient. 

 They are seldom brought to Europe, are very tender, and seldom live long in our climate. There is 

 in the throat of this animal a hollow bony substance, which is supposed to produce that peculiarly 

 dreadful howl for which it is remarkable. They are exceedingly mischievous and spiteful, and, if 

 attacked, they bite cruelly. We are assured by Marcgrave that one sometimes mounts the top of a 

 branch, and assembles a multitude below, and then sets up a howl, so loud and horrible, that a person 

 at a distance would imagine that a hundred joined in the cry : after a certain space he gives a signal 

 with his hand, when the whole assembly join in chorus, but on another signal, a sudden silence pre- 

 vails, and the orator then finishes his harangue. They are extremely sagacious, and, when hunted, 

 defend themselves vigorously. 



