196 
How AN Old Monkey is Tamed. 
them very frequently tamed by them : it was this that gave me the oppor- 
tunity for learning the large number of varieties in the genus. With these 
remarks I am still including a few in connection with the new- Nasua I 
discovered here, which lias suffered a strange fate in its identification. Its 
colouring was so strili^ing and differed so essentially from the many 
varieties of Nasua socialis hitherto observed, that we immediately took 
it for a new species, but unfortunately possessing too few natural-history 
books to confirm our suspicions, forwarded it to Berlin with the next con- 
signment, undescribed. I was accordingly all the more surprised to find 
that very same Nasua determined as X. riff at a by von Tschudi in his 
"Untersuchung über die Fauna. Peruana." The s])ecimen was shewn 
him on its ai'rival and he, recognising it as new, took the required notes, 
and before it was yet described in Berlin, ]»ub]is]ied it in his Fauna 
Peruana, altliough it does not occur there. 
445. In its manner of living it does not differ much from Nasua 
sociaJis : it feeds on fruits, insects, young l)irds, and searches for its fo<ui 
by day, but is only seldom met with. Tlie Arekunas maintained that in 
any case the animal was rare. It was quite unknown to our Macusis: it 
seemed for this reason to be limited only to certain localities. Jlerr von 
Tschudi in the above-named Fauna, etc., describes it as follows: — The 
snout, head and nape are quite black : a l>road black band runs from the 
latter between the shoulders to the middle of the back: the limbs are 
black, the back is yellow-brown, somewhat darker towards the root of the 
tail, the belly is reddish-brown : the tail is considerably shorter than 
the body, and has transverse bands which quite disappear tow^ards the tip. 
446. The complete absence of wild animals within so elevated a 
district as that occuped by the Arekunas, is really also the reason why 
this tribe when hunting, only requires a blow-gun, a weapon with which 
they can skilfully strike a target loO-lSO ft. high up. T have alreadv' 
mentioned that the Indian very much prefers to increase his live-stock 
through the young still suckling litter for Avhich his wife acts the part 
of mother. I was witness here of the way in which the Arekunas know 
how to tame an obstinate old monkey. Supposing they want to keep 
such an one alive, they smear the arrow with weakened poison so as to 
make the creature lose consciousness, and if under these circumstances 
it falls off the tree, they immediately suclc) the wound, bury it up to ita 
neck in the ground, and pour into it a strong solution of nitrous earth, 
or, in the absence of this, some sugar-cane juice. When consciousness 
returns it is taken out of its grave and tightly bound up with palm- 
leaves like a little infant in its swathing band, and any movement on its 
part rendered impossilde. It is left lying in this straight-jacket for some 
days: cane-juice is its drink and meats boiled in salt-petre water and 
strongly seasoned with capsicum are its food. If these forcible measures 
do not answer, they hang it in the smoke, still bound up, wdth every 
outbreak of temper: its unbridled fur\^ is soon spent, the hitherto 
maliciously wrathful eyes become gentle, and it cries for release. The 
bands are loosened, the remembrance of tlie past with all its w^ays has 
disappeared, and the oldest and most savage monkey has become as tame 
as if it had never roamed the forests. According to Professor Pöppig, 
