Of the Sai (_fig. 215._) we have seen two which seem to make a variety
in the species. The hair of the first was a deep brown, and that of
the second, which we have called the _White-throated Sai_, has white
hair on the breast, neck, and round the ears, and cheeks; and it
differs also from the first, in its face being less hairy; but in
other respects they perfectly resemble each other; being of the same
disposition, size, and shape. Travellers have described these animals
by the name of _weepers_, from their plaintive moan. Others have called
them _musk monkeys_, because like the maucauco they have a musky odour.
They have likewise been termed macaque, borrowed from the animals so
called in Guinea; but the macaque is a monkey with a flaccid tail;
while the animals we are speaking of belong to the sapajous, their
tails being prehensile. The females have only two teats, and bring
forth but one or two at a time. They are gentle, docile, and so timid,
that their common cry, which resembles that of a rat, becomes a kind
of groaning when they are threatened with danger. Their food in this
climate is principally snails and beetles, which they prefer to any
other; but in their native country of Brasil, they chiefly live upon
grain and wild fruits which they pluck from the trees, from whence they
seldom descend till they have stripped their habitation of its treasure.
_Distinctive Characters of this Species._
The sai has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws, nor callosities
on his posteriors. The partition of the nostrils is very thick, and the
apertures are placed on the side, and not beneath the nose. The face
is round and flat, and the ears almost naked. The tail is prehensile
and naked towards the extremity. The hair on the upper part of the body
is a deep brown, and on the lower parts, of a yellowish grey. These
animals are not above fourteen inches long, and their tails are longer
than the head and body together. They walk always on four feet. The
females are not subject to the periodical emanation.