122 



FOUR-HAN BED FOLK. 



Her hands were long and slim, and soft as 

 velvet inside, but without thumbs ; her thumbs 

 were on her feet. Her eyes were of the " snap- 

 ping " black sort, full of mischief, and she had 

 a fine set of white teeth, which 'she sometimes 

 used for other purposes than eating. 



The common name of my pet was Black- 

 handed Spider Monkey, but the name I gave 

 her, which was the one she answered to, was 

 Gila Chimpilicoco. She was intelligent, and 

 could express her feelings as well as if she could 

 talk. Though she had only two or three kinds 

 of cries, she uttered them with such varying 

 expressions that there was no need of words. 



The first act of the new pet was naturally 

 mischief. Not being expected, no place was 

 ready for her, so I had her tied by a rope to 

 the trunk of a small tree in full blossom, and it 

 happened that no one noticed her for some time. 

 She did not suffer with loneliness, however ; she 

 perfectly amused herself, if not the family. She 

 literally stripped that tree, not only of flowers 

 and leaves, but of twigs and small branches, and 

 when we found her she was coolly " jouncing " 

 herself in the branches to break them off. In 

 a short time the whole would have been kindling 

 wood. She screamed and chattered at us when 

 we dragged her down, before she had finished 

 her work to her taste. 



