"There are bright colored birds, like bits of Mrs. Smith's cap ribbons, which live upon trees, and others which stay on the ground. Then you may see the loris, or slow-monkey, which sleeps nearly all day, and crawls about the trees at night so slowly that you can hardly see him move. You would think a snail could far outrun him any day, and yet he manages to catch game enough to live upon very nicely. No one would ever take him for my cousin."
"I should say not," remarked Binney. "Slowness is not one of your faults, Mackey."
"For all that, he is always kind and good-natured," resumed Mackey. "Nothing can put him out of temper, except being hurried. Then there are tigers and wildcats, and many other such creatures, besides poisonous snakes, whose bite would kill you in a few minutes, and huge serpents big enough to kill a deer, squeezing him to death, and swallowing him whole afterwards."
"Really and truly, Mackey? Or are you joking?" asked Binney.
"Really and truly, Binney. I have seen with my own eyes one of these serpents kill a huge goat and swallow him, and I know that they kill cows in the same way. After they have taken this big mouthful they lie asleep and stupid for three or four weeks before they want any more."
"It is a good thing that they do not want to eat very often," said Binney.
[CHAPTER VIII.]
DIED OF A BROKEN HEART.
"IN just such a place as I have described to you I was born," continued Mackey. "The first thing I remember clearly, I was hanging on my mother's back with both my arms round her neck, as she ran along one of the vines I have spoken of, which formed a bridge across a rapid roaring stream. My father was before us, and just as we reached the middle of the bridge, he stopped, and began shaking it in play. I screamed with terror, for I thought we should certainly fall, and my mother called on him to stop, telling me at the same time that there was no danger. When my father saw that I was really frightened, he ceased his play, and brought me a ripe date to comfort me.
"O, we used to have fine frolics in those woods. There were a great many of us, and we were all very friendly together. Now and then we young ones got into a quarrel, but we soon made friends again. We had plenty of fruit and nuts, nice tall trees to play and sleep in, and nothing to fear except the snakes and wildcats."