African epicures esteem as one of their greatest delicacies a tender
young monkey, highly seasoned and spiced, and baked in a jar set in
the earth, with a fire over it, in gipsy fashion. Monkeys are commonly
sold with parrots and the paca, in the markets at Rio Janeiro. The
Indians, many negroes, and some whites, in Trinidad, eat of the flesh
of the great red monkey, and say it is delicious. This, however, seems
a semi-cannibal kind of repast--for it is the most vociferous and
untameable of the Simian tribe.
Several species of monkey are used as food by the aboriginal
inhabitants of the Malayan peninsula. As all kinds of monkeys are very
destructive to his rice fields, the Dyak of Borneo is equally their
enemy; and as this people esteem their flesh as an article of food, no
opportunity of destroying them is lost.
Mr. Hugh Low says, he once saw some Dyaks roasting a monkey, but did
not stay to observe whether they did not boil it afterwards, as they
generally partially roast these animals to free them from the hair.
Monkeys are eaten in Ceylon by some of the natives, and the Africans on
the Gold Coast eat them, according to the report of Governor Connor,
in his Dispatch to the Colonial Office, March 2, 1857.--_Reports on
Colonial Possessions, transmitted with the Blue Book, for the year
1856._
In South America monkeys are ordinarily killed as game by the natives,
for the sake of their flesh; but the appearance of these animals is
so revolting to Europeans, that they can seldom force themselves to
partake of such fare.
Mr. Wallace (_Travels on the Amazon_) says, ‘having often heard how
good monkey was, I had it cut up and fried for breakfast; the meat
somewhat resembled rabbit, without any peculiar or unpleasant flavour.’
The manner in which these animals are roasted by the natives, as
described by Humboldt, further contributes to render their appearance
disgusting.
‘A little grating or lattice of very hard wood is formed, and raised a
foot from the ground. The monkey is skinned, and bent into a sitting
posture, the head generally resting on the arms, which are meagre and
long; but sometimes these are crossed behind the back. When it is
tied on the grating, a very clear fire is kindled below; the monkey,
enveloped in smoke and flame, is broiled and blackened at the same
time. Roasted monkeys, particularly those that have a round head,
display a hideous resemblance to a child; the Europeans, therefore, who
are obliged to feed on them, prefer separating the head and hands, and
serve only the rest of the animal at their tables. The flesh of monkeys
is so dry and lean, that M. Bonpland has preserved, in his collection
at Paris, an arm and hand, which had been broiled over the fire at
Esmeralda, and no smell arises from them after a number of years.’
Sir Robert Schomburgk, in the Journal of his expedition to the Upper
Corentyne, and interior of Guiana, when suffering the pangs of hunger,
reports that at last their Indian hunter arrived, with heavy step,
carrying on his shoulder a large, black, female spider monkey.
‘I glanced,’ he observes, ‘at Mr. Goodall, whose countenance depicted
disappointment and disgust, but which sad necessity, and the large
vacuum that two ounces of farinha must have left in his stomach,
induced him to get the better of. He watched the preparations as the
Indians proceeded step by step, first singeing off the hair from this
human-like form, and then placing it in an upright position, with the
arms crossed; when, the skin looking white now the hair was off, the
sight proved too much for him, and I myself felt something like disgust
at the meal before us. The sound of a heavy body falling on the ground
drew my attention to a different direction, and to my great joy, I
beheld a fine young forest deer, over which young Ammon stood, leaning
on his gun with proud satisfaction. This was indeed, a happy turn in
our affairs.
‘I have tasted the smaller kind of monkeys several times, but have
never partaken of one which approached so nearly to the human form as
this. The Indians were less scrupulous.’
The ateles, as well indeed as all other American quadrumanes, are
esteemed as an article of food by the native Indians; and even
Europeans, whom curiosity or necessity has induced to taste it, report
their flesh to be white, juicy, and agreeable. Nor is it without being
strongly disposed to question the nature of the act, that European
sportsmen, unaccustomed to shooting monkeys, witness for the first time
the dying struggles of these animals; without uttering a complaint,
they silently watch the blood as it flows from the wound, from time
to time turning their eyes upon the sportsman with an expression of
reproach, which cannot be misinterpreted. Some travellers even go so
far as to assert that the companions of the wounded individual will
not only assist him to climb beyond the reach of further danger, but
will even chew leaves and apply them to the wound, for the purpose of
stopping the hemorrhage.
One of the spider monkeys, the marimonda (_Ateles belzebuth_, Desm.),
is termed _aru_ by the Indians of the Rio Guiana, and is a favourite
article of food with the natives of the borders of the Cassiquiare, the
higher Orinoco, and other rivers, and its boiled limbs are commonly to
be seen in their huts.
The howling monkeys (_Mycetes_), which are of larger size, and fatter
than some of the other species, are in great request with the Indians
as food. Mr. Gosse states that the flavour of their flesh is like that
of kid. The Aturian Indians, as well as those of Esmeralda, eat many
kinds of monkeys at certain seasons of the year, and especially the
couxio, or jacketed monkey (_Pithecia sagulati_, Traill).
Mr. Grant in his _History of Brazil_ states, that apes and monkeys are
esteemed good food by the natives.
The negroes and natives of New Granada, according to Bonnycastle, also
eat the monkey.
To prepare this dish, the body is scalded in order to remove the
hair, and after this operation has been performed, it has the exact
appearance of a young dead child, and is so disgusting, that no one,
excepting those pressed by hunger, could partake of the repast. It is
not at all improbable that many savage nations who have been accused of
cannibalism, have been very unjustly charged with it, for, according to
Ulloa, the appearance of the monkey of Panama, when ready to be cooked,
is precisely that of a human body.