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THE XATIOXAL GEOGRATHIC MAGAZINE 



THE HONEY-BEAR OE ECUADOR IS A 

 FRIENDLY LITTLE BEAST 



With no immediate relatives in the United 

 States, the kinkajou (or honey-bear) can be 

 likened to no animal of popular knowledge. 

 He is nearest to the raccoons in structure, but 

 is a much prettier, more graceful animal. 

 Klnkajous make charming pets, with their soft, 

 close fur, a golden yellow in color, large, ex- 

 pressive eyes, and hands that are as capable 

 as those of a monkey. 



of great strength; and they mount ser- 

 pent-fashion around the tree trunks or go 

 searching head downward in fantastic 

 loops and free swinging ends. 



Parasitic air-plants, bromelias and or- 

 chids, grow in profusion upon the limbs 

 and trunks of the trees, and mosses and 

 ferns take advantage of every possible 

 foothold. Many of the large trees carry 

 on their limbs a greater mass of parasitic 

 and epiphytic growths than they do of 

 their own foliage. 



THE HOWLING MONKEY HAS A TERRIFYING 

 BELLOW 



The bromelias serve as catch-alls for 

 the falling leaves and debris from above, 

 so that the crotches of the large boughs 

 support great collections of humus and 

 miniature forests of orchids and dainty, 

 graceful ferns. 



The howling monkey, more than any 



other animal, typifies these vast, unbroken 

 forest areas, for it is absolutely depend- 

 ent upon continuous forest; and its call 

 leaves a more vivid impression upon tin- 

 listener than any other noise of the jungle. 



The call, given oftenest just before or 

 during a rain or when the troop is 

 alarmed, is a heavy, reverberating bellow, 

 which fills the forest with its volume and 

 at times seems to make the very air shake. 



There is something sinister about the 

 call of this monkey which makes one 

 imagine that it is made by a very large 

 and powerful creature. 



Other mammals of interest in Ecuador 

 are the spectacled bear, the only represen- 

 tative of the bear family found in South 

 America ; the tapir, the largest quadruped 

 native to the Southern Continent ; the 

 jaguar, the beautifully mottled and spot- 

 ted ocelot, the peculiar, long-snouted ant- 

 eaters, the kinkajou, the coatimundi, and 

 a great variety of opossums. 



There are many varieties of harmless 

 snakes, from small grass-snakes and 

 slender, green tree-snakes, up to the boas, 

 which may be fifteen feet or more in 

 length. The two principal snakes of ven- 

 omous attributes are the fer-de-lance, and 

 the coral snake. The Indians of the 

 Orientc are said to have an antidote for 

 the bite of these reptiles, a plant which 

 grows in the jungle there. 



A LAND OE ONE RAILROAD AND MANY 

 TRAILS 



Ecuador might be truthfully called the 

 land of trails ; for, aside from the one 

 short piece of railroad, almost the whole 

 republic is dependent upon mule trails as 

 lines of communication. Especially is 

 this true of the central and southern parts 

 of Ecuador, where the towns and villages 

 are separated from one another by several 

 days' travel over terrific mountain trails. 



The Ecuadorean trail is something that 

 must be traveled to be appreciated. In 

 the open areas, where the field of vision 

 is extensive, almost every ridge will be 

 seen to carry a trail, which stretches off 

 like the folds of a gigantic serpent crawl- 

 ing over the mountains. It is seldom that 

 one is restricted to a prescribed route ; he 

 may take a choice of trails. 



One sine qua non of these trails is 

 that they must climb — it makes no differ- 



