THE MONKEYS OF THE NEW WORLD.[76]
THE CEBIDÆ--THE HOWLERS--THE WOOLLY MONKEYS--THE SPIDER MONKEYS--THE
SAJOUS.
The Monkeys of the New World--How Distinguished from those of
the Old--Their Division into Families--The First Family, THE
CEBIDÆ, with Prehensile Tails--THE HOWLERS--Appropriateness of
their Name--Where Found--General Description--THE YELLOW-TAILED
HOWLER--Anatomical Peculiarities and Appearance of the Face--Other
Members of the Family--THE BLACK HOWLER--Its Locality--THE
WOOLLY MONKEYS--THE CAPARRO AND BARRIGUDO--First noticed by
Humboldt--Peculiarities of the Skeleton--THE SPIDER MONKEYS--Seen
by Humboldt in the Brazilian Forests--Remarkable Power of the
Tail--Flexibility of the Limbs--Conformation of the Brain--Other
Species--THE COAITA--Curious Stories of them in Captivity--THE
CHAMECK--THE BLACK SPIDER MONKEY--Its Geographical Range--Its
Position in Sleep--THE VARIEGATED SPIDER MONKEY--THE SAJOUS--THE
CAIARÁRA--Observed by Bates on the Amazon--Other Varieties--THE
BROWN SAJOU--THE CAPUCHIN SAJOU--Described by Brehm--Their
Remarkable Dexterity and Cleverness--Diseases of Monkeys.
Not one of the numerous kinds of Monkeys which have been noticed in
the former chapters has ever been found in the New World--that is to
say, on the American continent. The converse is also true, for not one
of those which are about to be noticed, and which inhabit the tropical
parts of South and Central America, has been seen in any other part of
the world.
The two groups are not only distinct as regards their geographical
distribution, but they are also different in many very important
points of their construction and habits. It is evident that, although
it may be said that the resemblances between the Baboons, Macaques,
and Troglodytes, for instance, indicate some kind of relationship,
and suggest a community of origin, there is nothing of the sort to be
traced between any Old and New World Monkeys. They seem to have started
from different sources.
All the Monkeys of the New World have the partition between the
nostrils broad, and it separates them widely: they open as it were
sideways, and the whole of the lower part of the nose is flat. This
peculiarity has given the name to the group, as has been explained in
the first chapter, and it is accompanied by some others. Thus, with one
exception, the numerous genera of the New World Monkeys have the hinder
limbs the longest, and they are wont to go on all-fours, the erect
posture being only occasionally adopted by the Spider Monkeys. Their
thumbs differ less from the other fingers than do those of the Old
World Monkeys, and the toe-thumb is large and movable; no cheek-pouches
or callosities are seen in any of them, and only a few have air sacs.
It is usual to say that the American Monkeys are known by their
prehensile tails, but this is only true in part, for whilst some have
this member wonderfully developed and useful, others have it incapable
of holding on, whilst a few have barely a tail at all. The teeth are
more numerous than in the Apes and Monkeys of the Old World, in one set
of New World genera; and they are of the same number in another. In the
first instance, there are thirty-six teeth instead of the thirty-two
so frequently noticed hitherto, and in the last the thirty-two are
differently arranged to those possessed by the Old World kinds. For
example, in the prehensile-tailed Howlers, there are thirty-six teeth,
or one extra tooth in each jaw and on both sides, over and above the
usual thirty-two; and this tooth is a false molar, or one of those
between the true grinders and the canine teeth. There are thus three
false molars instead of two, as in the Old World kinds, on each side in
both jaws.
In the Marmosets, which have only thirty-two teeth, there are only
two back grinders in each jaw on each side instead of three, as in
the Old World Monkeys, but there are three pre-molars in each jaw on
each side. All these distinctions are useful in the classification of
these American Monkeys, and therefore they have been divided into two
families, one having thirty-six and the other thirty-two teeth, and the
first family has again been subdivided into the genera with prehensile
tails and those without them. The first to be described are the Cebidæ,
and this family contains--first, the genera with thirty-six teeth and
with prehensile tails; second, the genera without prehensile tails and
the same number of teeth.
[Illustration: GROUP OF HOWLERS.]
THE HOWLERS.[77]
Although articulate speech is denied to the Monkey world, many have
very extraordinary voices, the capacity for making a noise being great
in them. Thus, the Gorilla has a tremendous voice, and the Gibbons
are especially noisy, one of them having been noticed (page 77) to be
able to emit something like a series of musical notes. But they are
all silent in comparison with the noisiest of all Monkeys--the South
American Howlers. The females of this group can make a moderate amount
of disturbance, but the males surpass every animal in their prolonged
and sustained yelling. Their howlings, commencing often suddenly at
the close of day or in the middle of the night, amongst the strange
stillness of the great virgin forests, appal the traveller on his first
visit. “Nothing,” says Waterton, speaking of the Red Howler, “can
sound more dreadful than its nocturnal howlings. While lying in your
hammock in those gloomy and immeasurable wilds you hear him howling at
intervals from eleven o’clock at night till daybreak. You would suppose
that half the wild beasts of the forest were collecting for the work of
carnage. Now it is the tremendous roar of the Jaguar as he springs on
his prey; now it changes to his deep-toned growlings as he is pressed
on all sides by superior force; and now you hear his last dying moan
beneath a mortal wound.” Humboldt and Bonpland landed at Cumana, and
travelled towards the celebrated cavern of Guacharo, and they saw and
heard the Howlers often; and on getting into a cold district their
horrible din became worse, and was heard at a distance of two miles.
This was near the convent of Caripé, which is more than 4,000 toises
(a toise being rather more than our English fathom) above the sea,
and where the nights are cold. The animal clearly has earned its
appellation of the Howler, and might properly have been called Stentor,
as was proposed by a distinguished French zoologist. Stentor was a
Greek, whose voice was louder than that of fifty men. But Illiger,
probably familiar with the writings of the learned Apuleius--that
student of Carthage and Athens who married a rich Roman widow, and was
therefore accused of witchcraft, and who wrote the “Golden Ass,” a book
singularly applicable to modern society--called the Howler after the
word _Mycetias_, an earthquake with a hollow bellowing noise. The word
is from μύζω (to moan). An old writer (Margrave) wrote in his Natural
History of Brazil, in 1648, that all the Howlers assembled in the
morning and evening in the woods, and that one takes his place on a
tree high up, and motions to his companions to sit down and listen,
and then, after having seen them all seated, commences his discourse,
pitched at so high a key that at a distance one would imagine that all
the congregation were joining in. But this is not the case; only one
orator is allowed to speak at a time, and all the rest wait politely,
but not very patiently. When he has had enough howling he motions to
the whole, who burst out into a fine chorus for some time. Then, by
order, they all cease, and the first recommences, and after having been
listened to with due attention the whole depart. What the noise must
be sometimes, if they all join in, may be gleaned from the fact that
Humboldt saw the trees crammed with them, and believed that more than
2,000 may be found in a square league.
It really does occur that when there is an assemblage of these
Monkeys--for instance, of the _Mycetes Caraya_--when the weather is
warm and open, they make the forests resound in the morning and evening
with their overwhelming voices. The males begin the dreadful concert,
in which the females, with their less powerful voices, sometimes join,
and which is often continued for several hours. It does not appear that
any especial cause induces them to begin their noise, and probably
they do it because it pleases them, as the birds do in their prolonged
songs. Mr. Darwin suggests very forcibly that the females are pleased
or attracted by it, liking (as in higher animals) the loudest and most
intolerable of the noise-makers best. Hence one Howler is, of course,
always trying to outdo the others. But it is true that some Howlers
live in pairs and indulge in their vocation all the same. Wallace,
however, states that the females do not join in the noise, and that the
howling is made before bad weather, and in the evening.
These Howlers are the largest of the Monkeys of the New World, some
being nearly three feet in length, without counting the long prehensile
tail; they have movable thumbs on their hands, a hairless space
underneath the tip of the wonderful tail, and the howling apparatus in
the throat.
They have rather tall heads, with beard and large lower jaws, which,
with a thickness about the throat, give the appearance of an unusual
swelling being there, the cause of which will be noticed further on.
Some have long and others short fur, but generally there is much of
it about the head (where it is brushed forwards) and neck. Black and
red are favourite colours, and the young of both sexes differ often in
their tints from the adults, and so do the males from the females. One
kind in particular is decidedly coloured.
THE YELLOW-TAILED HOWLER.[78]
The last half of the tail of this species is of a brilliant golden-fawn
colour, and this tint is on the upper parts of the body nearly up to
the shoulders; the rest of the tail is light maroon, and what remains
of the body is dark maroon, there being a violet tint in the limbs.
Besides its colours this kind presents some points of interest. They
live in companies, and when they pass from one tree to another they all
play at follow-my-leader exactly. They watch the movements of those
which precede them, jump in the same manner, and at the same place, and
even place their feet and hands on the same spots on the boughs. They
are found in Columbia and New Granada, and in Brazil on the confines of
Paraguay.
The limbs of all the Mycetes are long, and whilst there is a good
toe-thumb to the foot, the very best of the hand-thumbs is not equal
to those of the Monkeys of the Old World. The nails on the fingers and
toes are compressed from side to side, as it were, and begin to look
like claws.
Ogilby, an admirable observer, noticed years ago that two Howlers
did not use their hands so as to take things between the thumb and
forefinger, and he ascertained that this thumb was so much on a line
with the other fingers that it was not opposable in the ordinary sense
of the word, and that it was more like an extra finger than a thumb.
This, he noticed, was not the case with the Howlers alone, but that it
peculiarised the Monkeys of the New World. The examination of their
skeletons shows that the bones of the thumb are on the same plane or
level as the fingers, and the whole is brought close to the fingers, as
our great toe is to the other toes. Nevertheless, this thumb can move
to and from the fingers.
[Illustration: BONES OF THE TAIL OF THE HOWLER.]
But if the fore-hand so greatly resembles a paw, compensation is
made to the animal by the gift of the prehensile tail, which is very
muscular, and the under surface is without hair near the end, so that
the sensitive surface can touch and feel objects. They can feel,
therefore, around them, and also above them, as they move along and
lay hold of branches and hanging creepers without looking for them.
The delicate sense of feeling depends on the nervous supply; and the
power of clasping and holding on upon the bending or flexor muscles. A
bony framework supports all these structures, and runs from the last
bone of the sacrum to the tip, and consists of many separate vertebral
bones placed in a long series. The first few bones which join on to the
sacrum, and form the root of the tail, resemble the back-bone pieces,
or vertebræ, to a certain extent. Each has a body, and also processes
for jointing with the one before and behind, and a spine also. Besides
these, there are two curious projections on the lower part of each
body, which are called chevron bones, and are V-shaped, and their use
is to allow the blood-vessels and nerves to pass along between them
without being pressed upon. Towards the end of the tail the vertebræ
become long and stout, and are united behind and in front, forming a
broad bone, and without the joints, and the chevron bones are reduced
to little rounded pieces of bone. Everything tends in this tail to
ready, rapid, and forcible motion, and indeed so perfect an organ is it
that when one of these Howlers is shot it always hangs to the tree by
its tail, even if quite dead, and does not fall down until some hours
afterwards, when the strong flexor muscles have relaxed. Therefore,
writes a recent author, if fresh food is required, it is best to kill
a Lagothrix (see page 171) in the Peruvian valleys, as hung meat
soon becomes tainted. The Golden Howler, nevertheless, furnishes the
principal animal food to the inhabitants of the banks of some of the
rivers entering the Peruvian Amazon. They keep to the low lands and
shores of the rivers, and are found moving from place to place in pairs.
[Illustration: SECTION OF HEAD AND OF AIR SAC OF THE HOWLER.
(From the _Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology._)]
[Illustration: UPPER PART OF BREAST-BONE AND COLLAR-BONES OF THE
HOWLER.]
The head of this and all other Howlers has a large black face, and a
high receding forehead; the chin recedes much, and there is a great
jowl produced by the large bones of the lower jaw. There is a curious
swelling at the back of the orbit; and the part of that cavity for the
eye which joins the cheek-bone has a round hole in it, as if it had
been made by a gimlet. It has two nose or nasal bones, which remain
separate, and the forehead (frontal) bone goes so far back that it
joins the side (parietal) bones of the skull in a V-shaped suture, or
union, and there is not much back to the brain-case, which is depressed
in shape, on the whole. They are vegetarians, and yet have very decided
canine teeth, those of the upper jaw being large, and they project
downwards much lower than the other teeth; and the large lower jaw has
evidently quite as much to do with the howling apparatus as with the
teeth, for it opens out behind to admit of the great bone of the tongue
moving readily within its boundaries.
This Howler, like all the others, has good lungs, and a windpipe
ending, as usual, in the larynx and its thyroid cartilage (see page
22), as in other Monkeys. The bone at the base of the tongue (the
hyoid) is attached to this cartilage, as usual, by a membrane, and
instead of being a flat curved bone with two projections on each side,
called horns, is swollen out into a bag shape, the horns being very
small. The bone in other animals is at the base of the tongue, and
this is the case in the present instance, although it is so large, the
inside of the hollow being able to contain four cubic inches of water.
Now, the air from the upper part of the windpipe can get into this
cavity, as there is an opening between it and the upper part of the
larynx. Hence the same noise is produced as if the animal howled into a
resonant shell.
[Illustration: BRAIN OF THE HOWLER.]
In order to strengthen the voice, the cartilage of the larynx itself
is large and strong, and the so-called ventricles of it are enlarged
into air sacs, and they unite in front of the “Adam’s apple.” Besides
these there are other sacs connected with the gullet. So that the whole
of the front and sides of the neck below and between the sides of the
lower jaw are complicated by air sacs and resounding chambers. The
breast-bone of the Howler differs in certain respects from that of
all other Monkeys, for its upper bone (manubrium) is halved, and each
half supports the end of the collar-bone and first rib. Possibly the
resulting space may have something to do with the air sacs.
[Illustration: YELLOW-TAILED HOWLER AND YOUNG.]
The possessor of these curious appendages, whatever Howler it may
be, for all the species of the genus have them, is active enough in
his woods, but still is a sad-looking animal, much given to crawling
listlessly from branch to branch, and becoming melancholy in captivity.
They have a surly disposition, are never to be made pets of, and are
savage; while at the same time they show none of the lively play which
makes the Spider Monkeys and little Sapajous so very amusing. Possibly
their howling exhausts much of their nervous energy, and certainly
their brains are peculiar. The back, or occipital part of the brain,
does not cover the cerebellum, or little brain, which is large in
proportion to the rest. The brain is small in comparison with those of
the other American Monkeys, due allowance being made for the greater
size of the Howler; and its surface markings or convolutions are few
and simple.
There is much less brain-matter packed up in folds, or convolutions,
than in most Monkeys, and some of the most important are wanting
(the angular and external perpendicular), and it has a shrunken and
contracted look. Everything shows a low condition of intelligence and
mental power. The absence of so much brain-matter behind, so unusual
amongst the Monkeys, has suggested to those who believe in phrenology
that the bump of philo-progenitiveness was absolutely deficient in
this species. But in spite of this, we find that the Howlers are kind
to each other, and bring up their solitary little ones, teaching and
feeding them with just the same amount of affection that all the other
New World kinds display. So the love of offspring is not deficient;
nevertheless, it may be assumed that the sameness of habits and the
slight requirements of their lives render a more elaborate brain
unnecessary.
Finally this and all the Howlers have the stomach a little disposed to
be arranged as more than one single sac, and in this there is just the
hint of the condition in the Semnopitheci of the Old World.
THE BLACK HOWLER.[79]
These Monkeys are called the Monos by the natives of Guatemala, and
certainly deserve some other name than Howlers. Howling is a moderate
noise in comparison with the loud, widely-heard yell which they can
produce. The effect of these noises when produced by four or five
animals trying their voices one against the other in the quiet forest
is most remarkable and unpleasant. Salvin thus writes:--“The wonderful
cry whence Mycetes gets its trivial name of Howling Monkey is certainly
most striking, and I have sometimes endeavoured to ascertain how far
this cry may be heard. It has taken me an hour or more to thread the
forest undergrowth from the time the cry first struck my ear to where,
guided by the cry above, I stood under the tree where the animals were.
It would certainly not be over-estimating the distance to say two
miles. When the sound came over the Lake of Yzabal unhindered by trees,
a league would be more like the distance at which the Monos’ cry could
be heard.”
[Illustration: CAPARRO, OR HUMBOLDT’S LAGOTHRIX. (From the _Proceedings
of the Zoological Society_.)]
The Monos are abundant throughout the forests of the eastern part of
Guatemala, but are unknown in the forest-clad regions which stretch
toward the Pacific Ocean. They are particularly plentiful in the
unbroken forest country which occupies the northern part of Vera Paz,
for seldom an hour passes without the weird outcry falling on the ear
of the traveller even when at the height of 6,000 feet. At this height
in a cold and damp region, where the forest trees are of the largest
growth, these Howlers congregate in the upper branches of the highest
trees. Living in small companies of five or six, they crawl sluggishly
along the boughs when disturbed. It was from such a locality that
those specimens of this species were found which are now in the British
Museum. The animals afford a dark and not very nice meat, which is
readily eaten by the Indians. The young as well as the females are of
the same dense black colour as the old males, but the hair is shorter
and not so glossy. All have the hair of the front part of the head long
and soft, and inclined forward over the forehead nearly to the eyes.
There are ten species of Howlers, and they are found in the forests
covering the country from East Guatemala to Paraguay.
THE WOOLLY MONKEYS.[80]
Humboldt, in one of his geographical excursions amongst the great
streams which feed the Orinoco, went far up towards their sources.
Going once into an Indian cabin in those remote regions he saw a large
Monkey, of a kind which he had never seen before. He named it, after
the words of the natives, “The Caparro,” and from its having a peculiar
furry skin which reminded him of the familiar hare-skin of home, he
termed it Lagotriche, from λαγώς (a hare), and θρίξ, τριχός (hair, or
fur), and thus arose the genus about to be described.
Humboldt’s new Monkey had a prehensile tail which was longer than the
body, and underneath, close to the tip, there was a naked and sensitive
spot of some length. It had a round and large head, a naked black face,
but no beard. There were, however, smellers or long hairs around the
mouth. It had long limbs and a shortish body, whose fur was long and
sable-grey in colour. A good temper and a quiet disposition appeared to
characterise this Monkey, and the natives said it was found in troops,
and that it often stood upon its hind legs.
They have thumbs, as well shaped as those of any American Monkey,
on the fore hands, as well as on the hinder extremities. They were
deficient, however, in the howling apparatus, and therefore they differ
from the Mycetes, and as their thumbs were noticed to be large, they
differ from the next group of Monkeys, or the Spider Monkeys.
A careful examination of the skeleton shows that the outside
differences are accompanied by inside ones, especially in the skeleton.
Thus, there are fourteen rib-bearing back-bones, or vertebræ, and this
increase of number over the ordinary thirteen is interesting, because
it makes the animal approach those lower than the Primates; then it
has four loin vertebræ, and three are in the sacrum bone. There is a
curious growth of the second vertebra of the neck or the axis, for
its spine is trifid, and has three projections for the attachment of
muscles. Finally, the long tail is very elaborate in its bony part,
and seven of its bones near the root have so great a resemblance to
the back-bones higher up in the body, that they have a canal like
that which in the others protects the spinal marrow, which, however,
does not reach further down than the lower loins. Then five of them
have good strong spines, and all have the chevron or V-shaped bones
underneath well grown.
This tail is quite as useful to the Lagothrix as it is to the Howlers
and to the Spider Monkeys about to be considered, and they feel with,
and swing and hold by it, to perfection.
The Caparro is about two feet two inches in length without the tail,
and has been subsequently to its description by Humboldt called
_Lagothrix Humboldtii_, or Humboldt’s Lagothrix.
THE BARRIGUDO.[81]
Bates says of this Monkey, that it is, with the rest of those found in
the district of the Upper Amazon, arboreal and diurnal in its habits,
and that it lives in troops, travelling from tree to tree, the mothers
with the children on their backs; leading, in fact, a life similar
to that of some Indians, and like them occasionally plundering the
plantations which lie near their line of march. The Barrigudo is the
“big-bellied Monkey” of the Portuguese colonists, and they are very
bulky animals. They have the head clothed with grey, and they live
with the Caparro mentioned above, in the same forests, and lead the
same kind of life. One measured twenty-six inches in length, and the
tail six, and it was the largest Monkey he saw in America, with the
exception of a Black Howler, who was twenty-eight inches in length.
The skin of the face of a Barrigudo is black and wrinkled, the forehead
is low, and the eyebrows project; and, in short, the features resemble
in a striking manner those of an old negro. It is not an active animal
in the forests, and lives exclusively on fruits, but is much persecuted
by the Indians on account of the excellence of its flesh as food. From
information given to Mr. Bates he calculated that one troop of these
Indians numbering about 200, destroyed 1,200 Monkeys a year for food.
Consequently they are diminishing in numbers, and are not found on
the Lower Amazon at all. Its manners in captivity are grave, and its
temper is mild and confiding. Owing to these traits the Barrigudo is
much sought after as a pet; but it is not hardy, and seldom survives a
journey down the river.
There are five species of the Woolly Monkeys, and they are found in
the valley of the Upper Amazon and along the slopes of the Andes to
Venezuela and Bolivia (Wallace).
THE SPIDER MONKEYS--THE THUMBLESS MONKEYS OF AMERICA.[82]
Many early travellers recorded that during their wanderings by the
sides of the rivers of the northern part of South America, and in the
Isthmus of Panama, small troops of dark-coloured Monkeys could be seen
rushing along amongst the trees, swinging under the branches, and
feeding upon berries. Sometimes they would stop on the lower branches
of the trees and look at the intruders; but usually they scampered off,
swinging with their front limbs and clasping with the hinder, having
their stout and long tail ready for emergencies. Their length of limb,
slender bodies, long hair, and their long tail, by which they suspend
themselves, and their extremely variable movements, soon gave them
the name of Spider Monkeys amongst those interested in their habits,
although, of course, the natives had some names of their own for them.
Humboldt saw them in the great virgin forests of Brazil, hanging in
curious clusters, clasping each other by means of their limbs and
tails, and all being suspended by the tail of one strong fellow. He
was, as everybody must be, greatly impressed with their clever use of
their tails, for he observed them being used as a fifth member, and
with all the dexterity of hands. The natives will have it that they
fish with their tails, but this is of course untrue, and they do not
carry anything to their mouths with them. They are wonderful swingers
and claspers, and they are exquisitely sensitive at the tip and for
some inches underneath it, and they are stout where they join the body,
exceedingly muscular, and in some kinds there are long hairs on them,
especially near the end.
These Monkeys have small heads, long necks, and exceedingly long arms
and legs; some are covered with a soft fur, and in others it is harsh,
and the hairs are long and rigid; and all have the thumbs of the hands
either absent or just visible as slight projections. The feet are long
and have well-shaped toe-thumbs. Their head is round, and the muzzle
only projects slightly, so that there is something human in their
appearance, especially when their large eyes are open; and the hair
in some kinds is brushed forwards on the cheeks and brows so as to
resemble whiskers and front hair. There is something in their shape,
without the tail, which reminds one of the Gibbons, those long-armed
Apes of the East, and the fore-hands resemble those of the Colobi of
Africa (page 100); but the Spider Monkeys have not the power of jumping
possessed by these, and their hind legs, useful as they are when amidst
the great trailing orchids and the climbers of the American tropics,
are feeble members when on the ground. Then the Monkey walks on the
outside edge of the feet, and on the inside edge of the hand, with its
tail feeling here and there for anything to catch hold of. Often they
are very sedate and slow in their movements, like the Semnopitheci
of India, and they indulge in a series of climbings from bough to
bough, swinging from one to the other, and holding on now and then and
assisting in the movement with the tail. They are as gentle in their
manners as those just mentioned, and are full of play with each other.
Their teeth resemble those of the Howlers, but the eye teeth, or
canines, are smaller, and the crushing teeth, or molars, are rounder.
From the defective thumbs, all these Monkeys as a group or genus have
been termed “imperfect-handed,” and therefore two Greek words which
convey these terms ἀτελής (imperfect), and χείρ (the hand), have been
conjoined in the word Atelochirus, of which Ateles is used as an
abbreviation.
[Illustration: GROUP OF SPIDER MONKEYS.]
But on examining the hands carefully, and noticing the deep parts as
well as the outside, it was found that they could be ranged into two
sub-groups. In one there is no external appearance of a thumb, and in
the other there is a stunted projection, but in both the member is not
quite deficient so far as its bones are concerned. In the first group
the metacarpal bone (the bone which is in man covered by the ball of
the thumb, and which extends from the wrist to the first joint) is
just seen, but it does not project; and in the second group there is
one phalanx or thumb-bone on the metacarpal, and this sticks out and
is covered with skin so as to resemble a hard pimple. In one kind this
little thumb has no nail, and in another there is one on it.
It is curious that some of the woolly-haired kinds of Ateles should
have no thumbs and others their rudiments; and that this should be the
case in the long and harsh-haired kinds also. There are many kinds of
Ateles, and there is consequently some difficulty in recognising them
as species and many attempts have been made to classify them, so that
they might be readily distinguished. Those with short and thick thumbs
have been called Brachyteles, and those without them Ateles; those with
woolly fur have been termed Eriodes, but all are now included in the
genus Ateles.
Everybody is interested in seeing the curious sprawling swinging of
the Ateles in the Zoological Gardens, and also in noticing the curious
way in which some can place their hand right over the head nearly on
to the opposite shoulder, and brush the hair with it forwards, and
especially because both kinds of movement refer to the great length of
the fore-limbs. On the contrary, although they can maintain the erect
posture for a short time, they seem feeble about the hind limbs, which
are shorter than the others. Their heel-bones are evidently short, so
that leaping is never well done.
[Illustration: BRAIN OF THE SPIDER MONKEY.]
They are fruit and vegetable eaters, and enjoy eggs, and a nut
occasionally, but they have no cheek-pouches. They have, however, an
air-pouch, or sac, in front of the throat, but none of the noise-making
gifts of the Howlers, and this sac enters the windpipe differently to
those of the Monkeys of the Old World, and this is very curious. It
opens into the windpipe below the cartilage which forms the “Adam’s
apple” in man, and not above and between it and the tongue. Below this
cartilage, which is called the thyroid cartilage, there is another
attached to it by which it joins on to the rings of the windpipe. The
opening is between this lower cartilage, the cricoid,[83] and the top
ring of the windpipe.
Their stomach is single, and the large intestine, as they are
vegetarians, is large, and its termination the “cæcum” also, but it has
no little worm-like appendage as in the Gibbons. No especial points
have been noted in the muscular system, except the very curious fact
that, although the bones of the thumb are so rudimentary, the muscles
are all there except the one which principally bends it forward.
As the activity of the Spider Monkey is marvellous, as they swing on
and catch hold of boughs with great skill and energy, and as they
display much intelligence, their brains ought to be well developed.
Doubtless there is a great deal of movement in these long-limbed
creatures which takes place like the walking of man, _i.e._, without
direct thought, for we move our leg muscles, and all those which assist
them in the act of walking, without a constant direction of the will.
Just as man’s walking is thus said to be done automatically, so much of
the swinging and progression of the Ateles is produced without direct
exertion of the will. But it is evident that the Spider Monkey judges
his distance, and very often considers whether such and such a bough
will bear his weight, and uses exactly sufficient muscular exertion for
what he requires.
Moreover, there is a graceful co-ordination or mutual action of the
muscles of the limbs, body, and tail to a common end in most of its
movements which is evidently done by will. The movements of the tail
are perfectly wonderful, and, indeed, so perfectly does it hold on,
although the animal cannot see what this long slender organ is doing,
that most children think there is an eye at the end of it. Directly
the Spider Monkey rises on its hind legs, up goes the tail straight
behind its back, and curves a little at the tip downwards: the delicate
hairs stick out and feel the slightest touch or passage of air; and
the least touch induces the last few joints to clasp hold. The animal
will walk along and catch hold of things with its tail at every other
step or so, and will change its hold in exact proportion to its rate
of progression. All these movements necessitate clasping, unclasping,
twisting, and a regular succession of efforts, and are not likely to be
carried out except by an animal with a well-developed nervous system.
Hence it has been a matter of some interest to compare the brain of
Ateles with those of other Monkeys, and even with that of man.
[Illustration: JAW OF THE SPIDER MONKEY.]
Even in this Monkey, which is low in the scale on account of its
having badly-developed thumbs, the structures of the brain greatly
resemble those of the Monkeys of the Old World. The nerves are large
in proportion to the substance of the brain, and the brain proper
is narrow in front and hollowed out beneath, where it rests on the
orbits. But these proofs of a low kind of intelligence and of great
muscular power are accompanied by structures which mimic or sketch out
those of the human brain in an extraordinary manner. The cerebellum,
or little brain, is large, as it is the organ which has much to do
with regulating and co-ordinating the movements of the muscles, but it
is quite covered by the back part, or posterior lobes, of the brain.
Inside the brain the cavities called the ventricles may be seen, and
they are made on the human plan, for the cavity on each side (lateral
ventricle) has a front part, a back part, and a deep one, and on
its lower surface, or floor, certain roundings, which are called by
odd names, such as the hippocampus minor and the hippocampus major.
These are visible in the brain of Ateles as they are in man. Now, it
is very remarkable, allowing for the difference in the size of the
brain of most other Monkeys and of man, that the Spider Monkey should
have larger posterior lobes to its brain than they have. Moreover,
this unusual size produces a greater length of the back part (or
horn, or cornu) of the lateral ventricle in Ateles. The difference,
however, between the packing of the nervous substance of the brain
in man and in the Spider Monkey is vast, for in this last there are
few convolutions, but the principal are happily said by Huxley to
sketch out the position of the most important in the human brain. The
projection of the back part of the brain of the Spider Monkeys over
the cerebellum is at least one-tenth of an inch. Hence there is much
nervous matter in the back part of the brain, and this compensates
for the narrowing and diminution of nervous matter in the front. Are
the nerves, then, which give the Spider Monkey its wonderful power of
activity and complicated movement, situated in the back part of the
head? At present physiologists have not satisfactorily shown what are
the offices of these back or occipital lobes of the brain; the rounded
floor of the cavity in the brain, which goes by the absurd name of
hippocampus, because it is curved like a “sea horse,” and which is well
seen in Ateles, has much to do with the sensation of touch, and the
nervous matter at the sides of the brain appears to be connected with
the nerves of the muscles of the limbs. The Ateles lead a life of very
great sameness in their forests, and their perceptions and intelligence
are never greatly stimulated, hence the fore part of the brain is small.
[Illustration: HAND OF THE SPIDER MONKEY.]
THE COAITA.[84]
This is the Monkey of which an extraordinary story is told by Acosta.
It belonged to the Governor of Carthagena, and was regularly sent
to the tavern for wine. They who sent him put an empty pot in one
hand, and the money into the other, whereupon he went “spidering,” as
Broderip terms it, to the tavern, where they could by no means get his
money from him till they had filled his pot with wine. As the ganymede
of the Governor came back with his charge, certain idle children would
occasionally meet him in the street, and cast stones at him, whereupon
he would put down his pot, and cast stones at them, till he had assured
his way; then would he return to carry home the pot. And what is more,
although he was a good bibber of wine, yet would he never touch it
till leave was given to him. It is about as true as the account of
the habits of the genus given by a distinguished French author. He
says that they live in greater or smaller troops in the forests; their
food consists of insects, and they also eat little fishes, mollusks
(shellfish), and other animal substances. When they are a little way
from the coast they sometimes come down to the beach by the sea-side
and collect such things as oysters, and they get at the inside by
breaking the shells between stones. Most of the species live far away
from such luxuries, and one and all are vegetarians, as a rule, and eat
an insect or suck an egg or two as the exception.
The Coaita, or Quata, is large for an Ateles, and is covered with long,
coarse hair, of a glossy black colour, the under part at the groin
being without any. The hair of the head is directed forwards, and
conceals the ears, which have no lobe, and the face is of a reddish
flesh-colour. It is an intelligent animal, and shows much curiosity
when anything new is seen in its vicinity. All the agility of the
genus is to be witnessed in its climbing and swinging from tree to
tree; and it has no thumbs. They live in Surinam and in the Brazils.
Bates, when living on the Lower Amazon, saw much of this Monkey, or
Coaita, as he properly terms it. He describes it as a large black
Monkey, covered with coarse hair, and having the prominent parts of
the face of a tawny, flesh-coloured hue. Moreover, he found that the
natives esteemed its flesh very much, and the military commandant of
the place used to send out a hunter every week to shoot one for his
table. “One day,” writes this author, “I went out on a Coaita hunt,
borrowing a negro slave of a friend to show me the way. On the road I
was much amused by the conversation of my companion. He was a tall,
handsome negro, about forty years of age, with a staid, courteous
demeanour, and a deliberate manner of speaking. He told me he was a
native of Congo, and the son of a great chief, or king. He narrated the
events of a great battle between his father’s and some other tribe, in
which he was taken prisoner, and sold to the Portuguese slave-dealers.
When in the deepest part of a ravine we heard a rustling sound in the
trees overhead, and Manuel soon pointed out a Coaita to me. There was
something human-like in its appearance, as the lean, dark, shaggy
creature moved deliberately amongst the branches, at a great height.
I fired, but only, unfortunately, wounded it in the belly. It fell
with a crash headlong about twenty or thirty feet, and then caught
a branch with its tail, and remained suspended in mid air. Before I
could reload it recovered itself, and scrambled nimbly to the topmost
branches, out of the reach of a fowling-piece, and we could perceive
the poor thing apparently probing the wound with its fingers.” He
states that “Coaitas are more frequently kept in a tame state than any
other Monkey. The Indians are fond of them as pets, and the women often
suckle them when young at their breasts! They become attached to their
masters, and will sometimes follow them to a considerable distance.
I once saw a ridiculously tame Coaita. It was an old female, and had
accompanied its owner--a trader on the river--on all his voyages.
By way of giving me a specimen of its intelligence and feeling, its
master set to and rated it soundly, calling it scamp, heathen, thief,
and so forth, all through the vocabulary of Portuguese vituperation.
The poor Monkey, seated on the ground, seemed to be in sore trouble
at this display of anger. It began by looking earnestly at him, then
it whined, and lastly rocked its body to and fro with emotion, crying
piteously, and passing its long, gaunt arms continually over its
forehead, for this was its habit when excited, and the front of the
head was worn quite bald in consequence. At last her master altered his
tone--‘It’s all a lie, my old woman, you’re an angel, a flower, a good,
affectionate old creature,’ and so forth. Immediately the poor Monkey
ceased its wailing, and soon after came over to where the man sat.”
The disposition of the Coaita is mild in the extreme. It has none of
the painful restless vivacity of the Cebus, and no trace of the surly,
untamable temper of the Howlers. Bates says it is an arrant thief,
and that it shows considerable cunning in pilfering small articles of
clothing, which it conceals in its sleeping-place. The natives of the
Upper Amazon procure the Coaita when full grown by shooting it with the
blow-pipe and poisoned darts, and restoring life by putting a little
salt (the antidote to the poison with which the darts are tipped) in
its mouth. The animals thus caught become tame forthwith. Two females
were once kept at the Jardin des Plantes, in Paris, and Geoffroy St.
Hilaire says they rarely quitted each other, remaining most part of
the time in close embrace, folding their tails round each other’s
bodies; they took their meals together, and never squabbled over their
favourite fruit.
The same traveller when once very hard up for food was obliged to kill
a white-whiskered Coaita, and cook it. He writes:--“I thought the meat
the best flavoured I had ever tasted. It resembled beef, but had a
richer and sweeter taste. We smoke-dried the joints, and the last one
was an arm with the clenched fist. This I used with great frugality,
hanging it between meals on a nail in the cabin, and nothing but the
hardest necessity could have driven me to an act so closely resembling
cannibalism.”
[Illustration: COAITA]
THE CHAMECK, OR TSCHAKMECK.[85]
An old author, Von Sack, in his voyage to Guinea, gives the following
account of the manners of this Spider Monkey:--“It is of a very docile
disposition, and capable of being quite domesticated. I have seen a
pair of them at a gentleman’s house at Paramaribo, which were left
quite at liberty. When the female negroes were employed at their
needlework, they used to come and sit amongst them and play with
pieces of paper, and afterwards go and gambol amongst the trees, but
never went over to the neighbouring gardens. They well knew the hour
of dinner of their master, when they would come to the gallery, look
in at the windows, though without attempting to enter into the room,
being aware that this was a liberty which was not allowed them; they
therefore patiently waited for their dinner outside.”
The Latin name of this species refers to its having hardly five
fingers. It has four and a short stump of a thumb, visible and useless,
but consisting of two bones, the usual muscles, and the skin covering.
It is larger than the Coaita, and is black, and covered with long hair,
but the face is brown. The tail is considerably longer than the body.
THE BLACK SPIDER MONKEY.
This Spider Monkey is more interesting for its geographical range
and favourite localities than for anything else. It lives in Central
America, north of Panama, and is common in the neighbourhood of
the volcano called Orizaba, in the state of Vera Cruz. It lives in
companies in the deep barrancas, up to an elevation of two thousand
feet above the sea, and in the State of Oaxaca it roams in the forests
up the country to a height of four thousand feet, being the same
elevation to which the Tapir often reaches in its roaming. It is a
black Ateles, with very long hair, which spreads out in all directions,
but there is grey-white on the inside of the limbs, and underneath. It
has no thumbs on the hands.
[Illustration: CHAMECK.]
The position which the Ateles take in resting is often very curious.
The great Apes of the Old World can lie on their backs like a man,
and the Monkeys with callosities sit on them, and, drawing up the
knees, let the head fall on to them, or on to the breast, bringing
the arms forward when they sleep. But the want of callosities, and of
the peculiar flatness of back which characterises the Anthropomorpha,
prevents the American Monkeys from adopting either of these positions.
Many lie on their sides, and others huddle up in parties, but the
Ateles often lie across two or three rope-like horizontal stems, with
the face looking downwards, a turn being taken by the tail round the
support to insure safety. The length of the back has something to do
with this, and of course with their extraordinary agility. The dorsal
region of the back-bone, or that which bears ribs, is as long in
comparison with the other (neck and loin) regions as in any Monkey;
indeed, the maximum of length is attained. There are either thirteen or
fourteen back-bone pieces (vertebræ), which have ribs attached to them.
The lower vertebræ are four or five in number, and the tail is at its
maximum of length in relation to that of the body, its pieces (caudal
vertebræ) being very complicated near its root. There, eight pieces
(vertebræ) are so like those of the back that they have spines, cross
processes, of course without ribs, jointing processes, and a similar
nervous canal to those which are higher up in the body. The spinal
marrow does not go down it, however. Underneath them are the V-shaped
or chevron bones. The end bones are short and thick.
THE VARIEGATED SPIDER MONKEY.[86]
These Monkeys appear to go in small parties, passing through the
forests at a rapid pace, feeding on different kinds of berries. The
berries which Mr. Bartlett found in their stomachs resembled a
gooseberry with a large stone inside. Owing to their great length of
limb and tail, and to their muscular vigour, these Spider Monkeys
travel far and wide. They are found on both sides of the Peruvian
Amazon (or Marañon), and on both sides of the Huallaga. They are also
common on the Rio Tigri, and range along the lower spurs of the Andes,
across Ecuador and Columbia, over the head waters of the Rio Napa, Rio
Japura, and Rio Negro, where it was first discovered. They have also
been found in Venezuela. Bartlett endeavoured to hunt them on the Rio
Tigri, a small tributary that runs into the Amazon about four miles
above the town of Nanta, on the north-western shores of the Peruvian
Amazon, but was prevented by the fever and ague of the climate, and the
fears of the Indians. Going into the mountains up the Marañon River,
he heard from the Indians of the presence of a long-armed Ape--called
in their language Maciosuppeh--at the distance of three days’ journey.
He engaged three Indians, started by way of a forest footpath that
had been opened by a Catholic priest, to the town of Moyahamba, as
part of his penitence. He writes:--“At the end of three days I reached
the highest point of the mountains; here we came across a number of
the Monkeys in question--about eight or nine. I shot the male that is
now in the British Museum, and my Indians brought down another with a
poison-dart. Having obtained two of them I was satisfied that I had
found a new species. While, however, I was busily engaged preparing the
first specimen, my Indians had quietly placed the other on the fire;
and, to my great horror and disgust, they had singed the hair off, and
thus spoiled the specimen. Of course I was obliged to keep the peace,
for they had not tasted meat for some days, and the Monkey proved a
very dainty dish.”
THE HOODED SPIDER MONKEY.[87]
Probably one of the most extraordinary-looking creatures in the world
is _Ateles cucullatus_ (Gray). This very spidery-looking Monkey has a
very curious head of hair, which looks as if it sadly required cutting,
for it comes over the forehead, and forms a regular hood, which expands
over the eyebrows. Everywhere the fur is long and flaccid, and of a
blackish silvery-grey colour. The face is reddish, the cheeks and
lower jaw being nearly bare of hair; the skin, however, is of a black
shade. The skin around the orbits and upon the nose is bare, and of a
brownish flesh-colour. The body is about fourteen inches, and the tail
twenty-seven inches in length. The tail is stout near the body, and
becomes very slim towards the end, the greater part of it, especially
the under surface, being extremely hairy. The length of the hind feet,
the long scraggy limbs, the spare, long body, and its great agility,
give the Monkey a most extraordinary appearance. Probably it comes from
the northern coast of Columbia.
There are many species of Ateles, and they range on the Pacific side of
Guatemala, on the west side of the Andes, and in the forests watered by
the great rivers.
THE SAJOUS, OR CAPUCHINS.[88]
If attention has been paid to these descriptions of the groups of
American Monkeys already dealt with, it will have been evident that
they can readily be distinguished one from another. Thus, the Lagothrix
has a round head without a beard, a prehensile tail, with the hair off
it underneath, not far from the tip, and its thumbs are large; the
Spider Monkeys, or Ateles, have small heads, the same kind of tail,
and their thumbs are either defective or wanting altogether; and the
Mycetes, or Howlers, have high heads and beards, thumbs, the same
kind of tail, and the howling apparatus in perfection. Now, the next
(and last) genus of prehensile-tailed Monkeys differs from all these
in not having the naked spot on the under side of the tail, in having
a thicker tail, and a gentle whistling voice. These are the little
“masters of the woods,” according to Azara, and should be called “Cai”
(the “C” is soft), which has been altered to Sajou by the extraordinary
talent which the French have of confounding spelling and sounds in
other languages. Buffon divides the Monkeys noticed above into the
_Sapajous_ and the _Sagoins_, the larger kinds belonging to the first,
and those about to be noticed to the last. He modified, he says, the
words _Cayonason_ and _Cagoni_, their _C_ being pronounced as _S_.
But Azara says that the real words are Caigonazon and Cai, they being
pronounced as written, and the first means Great Cai, and the last Cai,
or Cay, simply Monkey. Sajous is a derivation from Cagoni, and animals
properly included by it constitute the genus _Cebus_, but to add to the
confusion, Mr. Wallace calls them “Sapajous.”
[Illustration: BLACK AND VARIEGATED SPIDER MONKEYS.
(From the _Proceedings of the Zoological Society_.)]
They are the small, active, red-faced, round-headed, long-tailed
American Monkeys, which curl the end of the tail downwards, and yet use
it to hold on by. They are smaller and more delicate than those already
described; their teeth are smaller, and they have not large canines
like the Mycetes. Vrolik, in noticing the gentle expression of their
face, says their movements are graceful and gay, and their “manners a
mixture of sweetness, cleverness, agility, and lubricity!”
There is abundant proof to be obtained of their agility and
intelligence, and, unfortunately for them, their gifts are valuable in
the eyes of Monkey-trainers, and many a little pug, dressed up as a
Highlander or soldier, who does tricks in the streets for the benefit
of his master, once had a gay life of “lubricity” in the virgin forests
of the Amazon.
Bates, in his interesting work, “The Naturalist on the Amazon,” refers
especially to the following species--
THE CAIARÁRA.[89]
[Illustration: HOODED SPIDER MONKEY.]
This (according to this author and admirable observer) is the
light-brown Caiarára, and it is pretty generally distributed over the
forests of the level country. He saw it frequently on the borders of
the Upper Amazon, where it was always a treat to watch a flock leaping
amongst the trees, for it is the most wonderful performer in this line
of the whole tribe. The troops consist of thirty or more individuals,
which travel in single file. When the foremost of the flock reaches
the outermost branch of an unusually lofty tree, he springs forth
into the air without a moment’s hesitation, and alights on the dome
of yielding foliage belonging to the neighbouring tree--may be, fifty
feet beneath--all the rest following the example. They grasp in falling
with hands and tail, right themselves in a moment, and then away they
go along branch and bough to the next tree. It owes its native name to
the disproportionate size of the head to the body. It is very often
kept as a pet in the houses of the natives, and Mr. Bates kept one for
a year, and he thus writes about it:--“It accompanied me in my voyages,
and became very familiar, coming to me always on wet nights to share my
blanket.” It is a most restless creature, but is not playful like most
of the American Monkeys, the restlessness of its disposition seeming
to arise from great nervous irritability and discontent. Its actions
are those of a wayward child. It does not seem to be happy even when it
has enough of its favourite food--bananas; but will leave its own meal
to snatch the morsels out of the hands of its companions. It differs
in these morbid traits from its nearest kindred, for another Cebus
found in the same parts of the forest--the Prego Monkey--is a much
quieter and better-tempered animal. It is full of tricks, but they are
generally of a playful character.
The Caiarára keeps the house in a perpetual uproar where it is kept.
When alarmed or hungry, or excited by envy, it screams piteously, and
it is always making some noise or other, often screwing up its mouth,
and uttering a succession of loud notes resembling a whistle. Mr.
Bates’s little pet used to run after him, supporting himself for some
distance on his hind legs, without, however, having been taught to do
so. The end of this friendship came at last, and in a tragical manner.
“He offended me greatly one day by killing, in one of his jealous
fits, another and much choicer pet--the Nocturnal Owl-like Monkey
(_Nyctipithecus trivirgatus_). Some one had given this a fruit which
the other coveted, so the two got to quarreling. The Nyctipithecus
fought only with its paws, clawing out, and hissing like a Cat. The
other soon obtained the mastery, and before I could interfere, finished
its rival by cracking its skull with his teeth. I then got rid of him.”
[Illustration: BROWN CAPUCHIN. (_From the Zoological Gardens._)]
Broderip writes about one as follows:--“Humboldt saw at Maypures one of
these Monkeys riding a Pig. He used to bide his time, and every morning
caught one, which he compelled to perform the part of the horse. Seated
on pig-back did he majestically ride about the whole day, clinging
to his bristly steed as firmly as ever the Old Man of the Sea clung
to Sindbad, not even giving poor piggy a respite at meal times, but
continually bestriding him all the time he was feeding in the savannah
that surrounded the Indian huts. A missionary had another of these
riders, but the missionary’s Monkey laid a strong hold on a comfortable
Cat which had been brought up with him, carried him well, and bore all
his tricks with patience and good humour.”
The skull is long, and uniformly round in these animals, and the
face is not very prominent. There are two nasal bones, and the
inter-maxillary bone is distinct; moreover, the chin is rounded and
receding. With all its powers of teasing, fun, and its intelligence,
one would anticipate that the brain would be far superior in its form
to the Spider and other Monkeys with prehensile tails; and this is the
case, for the convolutions on the outside are almost equal in their
number and relative size to those of the Monkeys of the Old World.
There are eighteen kinds of these Capuchins, and the attempt has been
made to classify them by the direction of the hair of the head and
its colour, but in doing this sufficient allowance has not been made
for the influence of sex, age, and the bodily vigour, so that great
confusion still exists in their classification.
THE BROWN CAPUCHIN.[90]
In this species the hairs of the head are brushed back, but it appears
that with age some hairs are erected at the sides of the head above the
ears into two horns, so as to give it the name of the Horned Monkey.
THE WEEPER CAPUCHIN, OR CAI.[91]
This is known by the black top to its head, and it is small, and brown
in colour elsewhere, the face and throat being greyish-yellow.
Brehm gives the following notes about their habits:--“This Monkey is
common from Bahia to Colombia, and it chooses wooded country where
there is no underwood. The greater part of its life is spent on trees,
and it only leaves them to drink, or to visit a field of maize. In the
day he wanders from tree to tree, looking for food; in the night sleeps
on the branches of some tree. Generally one sees him in small families
of six or ten, of whom the most part are females. It is difficult to
observe the animal, because he is so timid and shy. Rengger asserts
that he is seldom to be seen. Once he noticed a pleasant whistling
noise, and he saw an old male looking timidly around on the highest
tree-tops, and then approach. About twelve or thirteen others followed
him, of both sexes, and three females carried a little one partly on
the back, partly under one arm. Suddenly one of these animals saw an
orange-tree with ripe fruit, gave a cry, and sprang up the tree. In a
few seconds the whole company were assembled there, and were engaged
in picking and eating the ripe fruit. Some began immediately to eat,
others sprang, loaded with a couple of fruit, to a neighbouring tree,
whose stronger branches provided them with a table. They sat themselves
down on a branch, encircled it with their tails, then took an orange
between their hind legs, and tried with these to loosen the peel at the
top with their fingers. If they did not succeed immediately, they flung
the fruit, grumbling and snarling, several times against a tree, by
which the rind was broken. Not one tried to peel the orange with their
teeth, probably because they were aware of its bitter taste. As soon,
however, as a small opening was made, they quickly pulled a piece off,
eagerly licked up the juice, not only what was on the fruit, but also
what was on their hands and arms, and then ate the pulp. The tree was
soon bare, and then the stronger ones tried to rob the weaker, both
making the most peculiar grimaces, gnashed with their teeth, tore each
other’s hairs, and pulled each other roughly about. Others carefully
searched the dead branches, lifted up the dry bark, and ate the insects
lying underneath. When they were satisfied, they laid themselves along
a branch, in the same manner as the Howlers, to sleep. The young ones,
however, began to play, and thereby showed themselves to be very agile.
They swung themselves by their tails, or climbed up them as if by a
rope. The mothers had great trouble with their young, who wished for
the luscious fruit. At first they gently pushed their young aside, but
afterwards showed their impatience by grunting; then they seized the
disobedient child by the head, and threw it roughly on its back. As
soon, however, as they were satisfied, they gently drew the young ones
forward, and laid them at their breasts. The mother’s love shows itself
by the great care with which every old one handles her young, through
laying them on the breast, by watching them, by searching their fur,
and by the attacks on others who come near. The motions of the young
one were neither light nor graceful, but awkward and ungainly. Another
time Rengger came upon a family who were about to make an attack upon
a maize-field. They climbed softly down from a tree, looked carefully
around, broke two or three heads of fruit off, and returned as quickly
as possible to the wood, there to devour their booty. As Rengger showed
himself the whole troop fled, with shrill cries, through the tree-tops.
Every one, however, took at least a head of fruit away with him.
Rengger now shot one of these, and saw a female fall with her young one
through the branches. He thought he should be able to catch her soon,
but, though dying, she caught herself by her tail, and kept him waiting
for quite a quarter of an hour. The young one had not left its mother,
but rather clung faster to her, though showing signs of fear. After she
was dead, and it was taken away, the little thing called in plaintive
tones to its mother, and crept near to her as soon as it was let loose.
After some hours, however, the coldness of the body seemed to frighten
the young one, and it willingly stayed in its captor’s breast pocket.
Our informant says that in the family of the Cai, the number of females
exceeds the number of males. In January the female gives birth to a
young one, and keeps it at her breast for the first week, but later on
carries it on her back. The mother never leaves her young, not even
when she is wounded. Rengger, however, observed that a female, whose
arm had been broken by a bullet, tore her young one from her breast,
and set it on a branch; but this most likely was to shield the young
one from danger rather than to relieve herself of its weight.
“The young Cai is often caught, and tamed. When older they cannot
bear restraint; they become mopish, refuse their food, never grow
tame, and die in a few weeks. The young one, on the other hand, soon
forgets its freedom, becomes attached to people, and partakes, as do
many other Monkeys, of their food and drink. They walk on their hind
legs for three or four steps, but they are trained to walk upright by
tying the hands behind the back. At first they fall frequently, and
must therefore be held by a cord from behind. When sleeping they curl
themselves up, and cover the face with the arms and tail. They sleep in
the night, and when it is very hot, in the middle of the day. At other
times they are in constant motion.
“Among the senses of the animal the sense of feeling is the most acute.
It is short-sighted, and cannot see at all by night. It does not hear
well, for it can be easily surprised. It holds everything that has
smell to its nose, and it is often deluded by the smell into tasting
what its taste tells it is not fit to eat. The sense of feeling makes
up in some measure for the others. It shows itself chiefly in the front
hands, less in the hinder, and not at all in the tail. Through practice
and teaching this faculty can be greatly cultivated.
“Rengger’s Cai knew his master in the darkest night, as soon as he
had felt his usual clothing. The cry of the Cai changes according to
its emotions. One generally hears a whistling sound, which seems to
proceed from weariness. If he demands anything he groans; wonder or
embarrassment he shows by a half whistling tone; when angry he cries in
a deep, rough tone--‘Hu! hu!’ When in fear he shrieks; when pleased he
chuckles. By these cries the leader of a troop shares his feelings with
the others. These they show also, not only by noises and motions, but
also by a kind of laughing and crying. The former is the drawing back
of the corners of the mouth; but he utters no sound. When crying his
eyes fill with tears, which, however, never flow down his cheeks. The
Cai is very sensitive to cold and damp, and must be kept from them if
he is wanted to keep well. This is easy, as he gladly rolls himself up
in a blanket. They live about fifteen years.
“The intelligence of the Cai is worthy of notice. He learns in the
first few days of his captivity to know his master and his keepers,
and looks to them for food, warmth, protection, and help; trusts
them fully, is pleased when his keeper plays with him, lets himself
be teased by him, and after not having seen him for some time shows
the greatest pleasure on his reappearance. He also soon forgets his
freedom, and becomes almost wholly a domestic animal. An old male which
Rengger had got loose once from his cord, and ran away into the wood,
but returned again in two or three days, sought out his keeper, and
allowed himself to be tied up. Those who are not badly treated show
great fidelity, especially to the blacks, whom they like always better
than the whites. The Cai is not only fond of men, but also of animals,
and it is no uncommon thing in Paraguay to bring him up with a young
Dog, who serves as a horse for him.
“The animal is very sensible, and does not give in to the will of man.
One can keep him from doing anything, but cannot force him to do it.
On the contrary, he tries to make others bend to his will, and also
men, sometimes by caresses, sometimes by threats. Weaker animals must
follow his will. This does great harm to his learning. He will only
learn those things which he can make use of, such as opening boxes,
looking through his master’s pockets, &c. As he grows older he gains
experience, and knows how to use it. If one gives him an egg for the
first time, he breaks it so clumsily that he loses half the contents,
but the second time he only breaks the top, and lets no more be lost.
He is not often taken in twice by anybody. He soon learns to know the
expression of the face, and the tone of the voice.
“The Cai is also very prone to stealing eatables. If caught in the act
he cries out with fear before he is touched, but if he is not caught
then he pretends to be perfectly innocent, and looks as if nothing
had happened. Small articles he hides, when disturbed, in his mouth,
and eats them at his leisure. His covetousness is great. What he once
gets is not so easily taken away, at the most, by his master, when he
likes him very much. His covetousness is made use of to capture him.
The niggers clean out a pumpkin through a small hole, and then slip
pieces of sugar, &c., inside. They see this, and thrust their arm in,
and while so engaged will rather be caught than relinquish their spoil.
Besides these qualities, they show curiosity and destructiveness to a
great extent.
“They are fond of teasing, and pull the tails of Dogs and Cats, snatch
the feathers out of Hens and Ducks, and even tease Horses which are
tied up close to them; they also pull their bridles, and are all the
more pleased the more worried or frightened the animal becomes.
“Only the Indians make use of the skin, and therefore hunt the Cai down
with bow and arrow. The whites prize him most highly in captivity.”
Some of these little Monkeys really appear to reason, and are very
clever. Rengger states that when he first gave eggs to his Monkeys they
smashed them, and thus lost much of their contents; afterwards they
gently hit one end against some hard body, and picked off the bits
of shell with their fingers. After cutting themselves only once with
a sharp tool they would not touch it again, or would handle it with
the greatest care. Lumps of sugar were often given them wrapped up in
paper, and Rengger sometimes put a live wasp in the paper, so that in
hastily unfolding it they got stung. After this had happened once they
always first held the packet to their ears, to detect any movement
within.
[Illustration: WEEPER CAPUCHIN, OR CAI.]
This breaking of the egg in a proper manner is as interesting as two
well-known facts, one of which may be observed by anybody in the habits
of American and other Monkeys. Sometimes a little Monkey has a nut
given him, and he is not strong enough to crack it. He will look up
into your face with a meaning glimmer of his eyes, and hand you the
nut again. Crack it for him, and he receives it as a matter of course.
Formerly one of the large Monkeys in the Zoological Gardens had weak
teeth, and he used to break open the nuts with a stone, and Mr. Darwin
was assured by the keepers that this animal, after using the stone, hid
it in the straw, and would not let any other Monkey touch it.
Rengger taught one to open palm-nuts by breaking them with a stone,
and so satisfied was it with its performance, that it soon began to
experiment on other kinds of nuts, and then it began upon boxes. It
also crushed off with blows of a stone the soft rind of a fruit that
had a disagreeable flavour, in order to get at the luscious food
within.
Some interesting observations were male by Rengger in Paraguay on the
diseases of these Monkeys in their natural state. One kind of Cebus
was found liable to what we call “colds,” or, medically speaking,
catarrh. It had all the usual symptoms; was uncomfortable evidently for
a while, had a stuffiness in the head, and then its nose ran like that
of a child. If the colds occurred over and over again the same result
took place as happens in man, for symptoms of consumption came on, and
death ensued. Moreover, these same Monkeys suffered from apoplexy,
inflammation of the bowels, and even from cataract in the eye. Even the
tiny ones suffered like human babies in cutting their second set--or
rather in shedding their milk, or first set--of teeth. They became
feverish, and often died with the symptoms of fever on them.
The same author saw a Capuchin Monkey taking great and affectionate
care of its infant. The flies were teasing it, and the mother drove
them away as sedulously as possible. When in its native woods the Cebus
Azaræ utters at least six distinct sounds when it is excited, and
these seem to produce corresponding feelings in the Monkeys which are
listening.
The Capuchins range from Costa Rica to Paraguay.