6 



A NEW HISTORY OF 



caprice of civilized man. It is an inhabitant of 

 the old world only. 



The monkey with an ordinary tail, long and 

 bushy in some species, and only with a moderate 

 supply of hair in others, is found in both continents, 

 and in several of their adjacent islands. 



The monkey with a prehensile tail, when in its 

 wild state, is never found except in America ; so 

 that it is entirely confined to the new world ; and 

 of course, was never heard of in the other three 

 quarters of the globe, until the discovery of that 

 country by the Europeans. 



This prehensile tail is a most curious thing. It 

 has been denominated very appropriately, a fifth 

 hand. It is of manifest advantage to the animal, 

 either when sitting in repose on the branch of a 

 tree, or when in its journey onwards in the gloomy 

 recesses of the wilderness. 



You may see this monkey catching hold of the 

 branches with its hands, and at the same moment, 

 twisting its tail round one of them, as if in want of 

 additional support ; and this prehensile tail is 

 sufficiently strong to hold the animal in its place, 

 even when all its four limbs are detached from 

 the tree ; so that it can swing to and fro, and 

 amuse itself, solely through the instrumentality of 

 its prehensile tail, which, by the way, would be of 



