212 
THE VIUDITA HOTKEY. 
in the forests they often met groups of ten or twelve of these 
animals, whilst others sent forth lamentable cries, because 
they wished to enter amid the group to find warmth and 
shelter. By shooting arrows dipped in weak poison at one 
of these groups, a great number of yoiuig monkeys are taken 
alive at once. The titi in falling remains clinging to its 
mother, and if it he not wounded by the fall, it does not 
quit the shoulder or the neck of the dead animal. Most of 
those that are found alive in the huts of the Indians have 
been thus taken from the dead bodies of their mothers. 
Those that are full grown, when cured of a slight wound, 
commonly die before they can accustom themselves to a 
domestic state. The titis are in general delicate and timid 
little animals. It is very difficult to convey them from the 
Missions of the Orinoco to the coast of Caracas, or of Cu- 
mana. They become melancholy and dejected in proportion 
as they quit the region of the forests, and enter the Llanos. 
This cliange cannot he attributed to the slight elevation of the 
temperature ; it seems rather to depend on a greater inten- 
sity of light, a less degree of humidity, and some chemical 
property of the air of the coast. 
The saimiri, or titi of the Orinoco, the atele, the sajou, 
and other quadrumanous animals long known in Europe, 
form a striking contrast, both in their gait and habits, with 
the macavahu, called by the missionaries viudita, or ‘ widow 
in mourning.’ The hair of this little animal is soft, glossy, 
and of a fine black. Its face is covered with a mask of a 
square form and a whitish colour tinged with blue. Tin 3 
mask contains the eyes, nose, and mouth. The ears hare a 
rim : they are small, very pretty, and almost bare. The 
neck of the ividow presents in front a white band, an inch 
broad, and forming a semicircle. The feet, or rather the 
hinder hands, are black like the rest of the body ; but the 
fore paws are white without, and of a glossy black within- 
In these marks, or white spots, the missionaries think they 
recognize the veil, the neckerchief, and the gloves of a 
widow in mourning. The character of this little monkey, 
which sits up on its hinder extremities only when eating, i s 
but little indicated in its appearance. It’ has a wild and 
timid air ; it often refuses the food offered to it, even when 
tormented by a ravenous appetite. It has little inednatiou 
