156 
MONKEY. 
There is a species of monkey called the preacher, 
whose voice is peculiar, and so very loud that it 
may be heard at a considerable distance. The 
sound proceeds from a peculiar conformation of the 
windpipe, in the upper part of which there is a 
concave bony process, that exceedingly augments 
the voice. This creature has obtained the name 
of preacher, from the abominable noise he makes 
in the woods every morning and evening, when, 
according to Marcgrave, many of them assemble to- 
gether ; and one taking his station in a tree, above 
the rest, begins to harangue his brethren in a howl 
that may be heard at an amazing distance. His 
audience seem perfectly sensible of the value of the 
discourse, and remain profoundly silent for some 
time ; at length the whole body cry together, and 
make the woods resound with their terrible noise, 
which, however, does not last long before the first 
speaker resumes the discourse, and after some time 
the assembly breaks up. These animals will leap 
from a considerable height, but instead of coming 
to the ground they will grasp a branch with their 
tails, and hang swinging to and fro like so many 
pendulums. Dampier was alarmed by one of them 
which jumped immediately at him from the branch 
of a tree under which he was passing; but the monkey 
caught hold of one of the lower boughs with the tip 
of his tail, where he continued swinging and making 
faces at him. 
The female monkey brings forth sometimes one, 
and sometimes two at a birth. If she happens to 
