THE MONKEY FAMILY. 



27 



Tis indeed a wonder, — a strange wonder, how 

 such a tale as this, could ever be believed. Still, 

 we see representations of it in pictures, drawn 

 by men of science. 



But enough of infant pelicans sucking their 

 mamma in the nursery. I consign them to the 

 fostering care of my great grandmother. 



In the meantime, I will proceed with careful eye 

 to inspect the genealogical tree of the monkey 

 family ; and after having lopped off its diseased 

 or useless branches, I will engraft in their stead, 

 others which I trust will bear fruit of a better 

 quality ; and be more agreeable to the reader's 

 palate, than the bastard fruit which they have 

 hitherto been accustomed to eat. 



Whatever books we open, which treat on the 

 habits of the monkey, we are sure to find stories 

 upon which no manner of reliance ought to be 

 placed ; and it is humiliating for the cause of 

 natural history, to see how such absurd tales still 

 continue to find their way into editions of the 

 present times, where the schoolmaster is supposed 

 to carry all before him. 



An immortal engraver in wood, (and faultless, had 

 he attended solely to his own profession,) having 

 never seen monkeys in their native regions, has 

 taken his account of them, from the pages of other 

 writers. 



