The Ouarine and the Alouate are the largest four-handed animals
belonging to the New Continent: they surpass the size of the largest
monkey, and approach that of the baboon. They have prehensile tails
and are consequently of the sapajous family, in which they hold a very
distinguished rank, not only with regard to stature, but also by
voice, which resounds like a drum, and may be heard at a very great
distance. Marcgrave informs us, "that every morning and evening the
ouarines assemble in the woods; that one among them seats himself on
an elevated place, makes a sign with his hand to the rest to seat
themselves round him; that as soon as he sees them all seated, he
begins an oration with so quick and loud a voice as to be heard at
a great distance, and it might be imagined they were all making a
noise together, but during the whole time the rest keep a profound
silence; that when he has ended, he makes a signal to the others to
reply, and immediately they all set up a cry together, till such time
as by another sign with his hand, he orders them to be silent, and
which they instantly obey; that then the first renews his discourse,
or song, which, when finished, and the others have paid the utmost
attention to it, the whole assembly break up." These circumstances,
of which Marcgrave says, he has many times been an eye-witness, may
possibly be exaggerated, and seasoned a little with the marvellous. The
whole, probably, is only founded on the frightful noise these animals
make; they have in their throats a kind of bony drum, in the cavity of
which the sound of the voice thickens, encreases, and forms a kind
of howling reverberation; upon which account these sapajous have been
distinguished from the rest by the name of howlers. We have never seen
the ouarine, but we have the skin and the dried foetus of an alouate,
in which the instrument of the loud noise he makes, that is to say,
the bone of the throat, is very apparent. According to Marcgrave,
the face of the ouarine is broad, the eyes black and sparkling, the
ears short and round, and a tail naked at the extremity, which holds
firmly whatever it encircles; the hair of the body is black, long,
and glossy; it is much the longest under the chin, and forms a kind
of round beard; the hair on the hands, feet, and a part of the tail,
is brown. The female is of the same colour as the male, and only
differs from him in being smaller. The females carry their young on
their backs, and thus loaded leap from branch to branch and from tree
to tree. The young ones clasp the mother round the narrowest part of
the body with the hands and arms, and thus remain firmly fastened,
while she keeps in motion. These animals are so wild and mischievous,
that they can neither be tamed nor subdued; they bite dreadfully, and
although they are not among the carnivorous animals, yet they excite
fear by their frightful voice and ferocious air. As they live only on
fruits, grain, and some insects, their flesh is not bad eating. "The
hunters, says Oexmelin, bring home in the evening the monkies they have
killed in the Cape Gracias-a-Dio; they roast one part of these animals
and boil the other; its flesh is very good, and resembles that of the
hare, but being of a sweetish flavour, a good quantity of salt must
be put to that part which is roasted; the fat is yellow like that of
a capon, and is very good. We lived on these animals all the time we
remained there, because we could procure no other food, and our hunters
brought us every day as many of them as we could eat. My curiosity led
me to see the method of hunting them, and I was surprised at their
sagacity, not only in particularly distinguishing their enemies, but
also in the manner in which they defended and secured themselves. When
we approached towards them, they assembled together, set up loud and
frightful cries, and threw branches at us which they broke from the
trees; some voided their excrements in their hands, and threw them at
our heads. I also remarked, that they never forsook each other; that
they leaped from tree to tree with an almost imperceptible nimbleness;
and that, though they took the most desperate leaps, they seldom fell
to the ground; because they never missed catching hold of the branches
either with their hands or tail, which rendered it very difficult to
take them, even after they were shot, unless absolutely killed; for if
only wounded, they remain clinging to the branch, where they often die,
and do not drop off until they are putrefied. I have seen them hang in
this manner for four or five days after death, and it is not uncommon
to shoot fifteen or sixteen without being able to get more than two or
three. What appeared still more singular, the moment one of them was
wounded, the rest assembled round, and clapt their fingers into the
wound, as if they were desirous of sounding its depth; and if the blood
flow in any quantity, some of them keep it shut up, while others get
leaves, which they chew and thrust into the orifice. I have seen this
circumstance several times with admiration. The females bring forth
only one at a time, which they carry on their backs in the same manner
as the Negresses do their children. When they suckle their young, they
take them in their paws, and present the breast to them like a woman.
There is no other way of taking the young than by shooting its mother,
for she never forsakes it; but when she is killed, it tumbles to the
ground, and then it is easily taken."
Dampier confirms most of these circumstances; but asserts, that these
animals commonly bring forth two at a time, and that the mother carries
one under her arm and the other upon her back. The smallest species of
sapajous do not bring forth many, and it is therefore very probable
that the largest produce not more than one or two at a time.
_Distinctive Characters of this Species._
The ouarine has the apertures of the nostrils placed on the sides, and
not under the nose; the partition which divides the nostrils is very
thick. He has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws, nor callosities
on his posteriors, those parts being covered with hair like the rest of
the body. His tail is long and prehensile. His hair is long and black,
and in his throat is a thick concave bone. He is about the size of a
greyhound. The long hair under his neck forms a kind of round beard,
and he generally walks on all fours.
The alouate has the same character as the ouarine, and seems to differ
from him only in having a larger beard, and a reddish-coloured hair.
I do not know whether the females of this species are subject to a
periodical emanation; but from analogy, I should presume the contrary,
for I have generally observed, that the apes, baboons, and monkeys,
with naked posteriors, alone are subject to this emanation.