306 
ANIMALS OF EGA. 
Chap. Y. 
the interest belonging to the study of the living crea- 
tion. The structure, habits, instincts, and geographical 
distribution of some of the oldest-known forms supply 
inexhaustible materials for reflection. The few remarks 
I have to make on the animals of Ega will relate to the 
mammals, birds, and insects, and will sometimes apply to 
the productions of the whole Upper Amazons region. 
We will begin with the monkeys, the most interesting, 
next to man, of all animals. 
Scarlet-faced Monkeys. — Early one sunny morning, 
in the year 1855, I saw in the streets of Ega, a 
number of Indians carrying on their shoulders down to 
the port, to be embarked on the Upper Amazons steamer, 
a large cage made of strong lianas, some twelve feet in 
length and five in height, containing a dozen monkeys 
of the most grotesque appearance. Their bodies (about 
eighteen inches in height, exclusive of limbs) were 
clothed from neck to tail with very long, straight, and 
shining whitish hair ; their heads were nearly bald, 
owing to the very short crop of thin gray hairs, and 
their faces glowed with the most vivid scarlet hue. As 
a finish to their striking physiognomy, they had bushy 
whiskers of a sandy colour, meeting under the chin, 
and reddish-yellow eyes. They sat gravely and silently 
in a group, and altogether presented a strange spec- 
tacle. These red-faced apes belonged to a species called 
by the Indians Uakari, which is peculiar to the Ega 
district, and the cage with its contents was being sent 
as a present by Senhor Chrysostomo, the Director of 
Indians of the Japura, to one of the Government offi- 
cials at Rio Janeiro, in acknowledgment of having 
