SOUTH AMERICAN RIVER SCENE.
Forests and pampas, pampas and forests, succeeded each other as the raft followed the course of this affluent of the mighty Amazon. Parrots and toucans and other birds flew among the trees, monkeys stared in astonishment, jumped from limb to limb, swung by feet and tail, and kept up a continual chattering as the raft floated by their haunts. Frank made note of the difference between the South American monkey and his Asiatic brother; he had never seen the latter using his tail for anything but ornamental purposes, while with the South American monkey it gave the advantage of an extra hand or foot.
SOUTH AMERICAN MONKEY WITH PREHENSILE TAIL.
"The Asiatic monkey's tail is not prehensile," said the Doctor, "and all monkeys of South America have not this advantage. In the words of a famous naturalist," he continued, "all monkeys with prehensile tails are American, but all American monkeys do not have prehensile tails. The Asiatic monkey does not seem to have heard of such a thing, though some of the varieties of monkey in the far East occasionally use the tail in a bungling sort of way. Professor Wallace lived four years in South America, and in that time he saw twenty-one species of monkey, seven with prehensile and fourteen with non-prehensile tails. All the American monkeys are climbers, and live in the trees, while such is not the case in the old world."
While they were talking on the subject of monkeys a most unearthly yell was heard in the forest to the right of the raft. Both the boys turned in amazement to Manuel, and asked what it was.
