32 



A NEW HISTORY OF 



themselves doing in a sandy desert, where no 

 food could be procured, either by the pursued 

 or by the pursuers ? I have spent days in the 

 sandy deserts of Guiana. They are called dry 

 savannas. But never did I see a monkey there. 

 Had I observed one, my astonishment would have 

 been beyond the power of words; and I should 

 have been utterly at a loss to account for the 

 apparition. In the second place, an assemblage of 

 monkeys, argues a tract of trees. Supposing then, 

 that there had actually been a tract of trees in 

 the desert, these monkeys must have been deprived 

 of their usual instinct to descend and take up a 

 handful of sand, in order to throw it at their 

 pursuers ; and thus expose themselves to have 

 their backs broken by the jaws of a famished 

 jackal, or to be made mince-meat of, and then 

 swallowed by a pack of ferocious wolves. Depend 

 upon it, no bands of monkeys and of wild beasts, 

 have ever yet had a hostile meeting ; or been 

 engaged in hot pursuit of each other ; or ever will 

 have one to the end of time. In the third place, 

 I positively affirm, that the act of throwing 

 things, does not exist in any animal, except in 

 man, whose reasoning faculties enable him to 

 perform the feat. But more of this anon. The 

 prerogative must not be conceded to the monkey 



