169 



The weather was cloudy, and led us to fear 

 one of those showers, during which from 1 to 

 1*3 inch of water sometimes falls in a day. 

 The sun at times illuminated the tops of the 

 trees ; and, though sheltered from it's rays, we 

 felt an oppressive heat. The thunder already 

 rumbled at a distance ; the clouds seemed sus- 

 pended on the top of the lofty mountains of 

 Guacharo ; and the plaintive howling of the 

 araguatoes, which we had so often heard at 

 Caripe, denoted the proximity of the storm. 

 We saw near us for the first time these howling 

 apes. They are of the family of the alouates % 

 the different species of which authors have long 

 confounded. While the small sapajous of Ame- 

 rica, which imitate in whistling the voice of the 

 passeres, have the bone of the tongue thin and 

 simple, the apes of large size, as the alouates 

 and marimondes have the tongue placed on a 

 large bony drum. Their superior larynx has 

 six pouches, in which the voice loses itself ; and 

 two of which, shaped like pigeons' nests, resem- 

 ble the inferior larynx of birds. The air driven 

 with force into the boney drum produces that 

 mournful sound, which characterises the ara- 

 guatoes. I sketched on the spot these organs, 

 imperfectly known to anatomists, and publish- 

 ed the description of them on my return to 



* Stentor, Geoffroy. 

 t A teles, G. 



