The Western World / Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North / and South America

by William Henry Giles Kingston

The chemeck appears to have a wider range. It possesses a thumb, slightly projecting, and furnished with a nail—though the thumb cannot be used like that of a human being, as it is incapable of being opposed to the fingers. It is a gentle creature, and capable of considerable cultivation. Although playfully inclined, it is seldom spiteful; while its disposition is very different from that exhibited by the capricious temper of the Old World monkeys. It soon learns to distinguish its friends; and will playfully pretend to attack them, but never does any real harm. It is covered with a long fur, which falls densely over the body; as is its tail, which at once distinguishes it from its relatives. The ear is somewhat similar to that of man, but has no lower lobe. The nostrils open at the sides, and are separated by a wide piece of cartilage. The habits, however, of the ateles, are so similar, that they require no separate description.

Wandering through the forest with an Indian guide, we reach an igarape or stream, where the lofty branches of the trees do not completely meet overhead, but where the opening is as yet of no great width. Lying concealed, we hear a strange chattering and rustling among the foliage in the distance. Pieces of rotten wood, husks, and nuts come dropping down, and we may see the boughs alive with numberless dark-haired little creatures, their long lithe tails twisting and twirling, their active limbs stretched out in all directions, as they make their way through the forest. We recognise them as a troop of ateles, migrating to some other district, or on some expedition in search of food.

On reaching the boughs above the banks of the stream, they seem somewhat puzzled. Several of the elders of the tribe go to the outer ends of the boughs, and appear to be measuring the distance across. As they have an especial dislike to wetting their hairy skins—although they would undoubtedly swim if no other means could be found of getting to the opposite bank—they have devised a method more suited to their tastes. They leap from bough to bough, till they find one projecting in a line with the trunk or branch of any tree inclining over the water from the opposite side. The larger and stronger members of the tribe now assemble, leaving the younger ones to gambol and frisk about among the boughs, and amuse themselves in juvenile monkey fashion. One monkey—the Hercules probably of the tribe—twisting his tail round the outer end of the branch, now hangs by it with his head downwards, at his full length. Another descends by the body of the first, round which he coils his tail. A third adds another link to the chain: and thus, one by one they increase its length, till the surface of the water is almost reached. The chain now begins to oscillate backwards and forwards towards the opposite bank, each movement increasing the length of the arc, till the lower monkey, with fore-arms outstretched, reaches the stem of the tree on the opposite bank. He grasps it tightly, gradually clambering up, and drawing the line composed of his comrades after him, till the monkey immediately below him is also able to seize the trunk, and assist in dragging up the rest. They thus form an almost horizontal bridge above the water. The rest of the agile tribe, now summoned from their sports, begin to cross; the younger ones, in the exuberance of their spirits, taking the opportunity of playing all sorts of pranks during their passage over the bodies of their self-sacrificing

elders—giving many a sly pinch of the ear, or pull of the hair, for which they well know they cannot at the moment receive punishment. Thus the whole party—the mothers with their infants on their backs, and the other juvenile members—cross in safety, and assemble among the branches to watch the further proceedings.

The great difficulty now appears to be for the individuals composing the bridge to get across without touching the water. Trusting to the muscular power of their tails and limbs, they appear in no way daunted. The monkeys which have hitherto formed the lower links of the chain, still holding on by their tails to their friends, work their way up the trunk and along a branch of equal or greater height than that on the opposite side, to which the long-enduring Hercules has hitherto clung. On their attaining the point selected, he at length unwinds his tail, and swings downwards—with a force which seems sufficient to dislocate the limbs of those holding on above—and now becomes the lowest in the line. The force with which he has descended enables him to swing towards the side which his comrades have reached, and to grasp the trunk, up which he also climbs, till his neighbour can catch hold of it. He follows his example, till all, one after the other, have grasped it: and thus they perform an operation which the most renowned of human athletes would find it difficult to imitate.

A troop will cross a gap in the forest in the same way, rather than venture down from the leafy heights they find it safest to occupy. When compelled to descend to the ground, they scuttle over it in the most awkward manner—their long limbs straggling out, and their tails in vain seeking some object to grasp. On these occasions the spider-monkey turns its hind-feet inwards, and thus walks on the outer sides, while the fore-paws are twisted outward; thus throwing the whole of its weight upon their inner edges. It is when thus seen that the appropriateness of the name given to it is more especially observed. When hard-pressed, however, the knowing little animal, finding no bough round which to coil its tail, rears itself up on its hind-limbs, and balances itself by curling up its tail in the form of the letter S, as high as its head; thus—by altering the centre of gravity—being enabled to got over the ground in a posture such as no other member of its tribe can maintain. It will thus run on towards some friendly stem or low-hanging bough, which it seizes with its lithe and prehensile limb, and joyfully swings itself up in its usual monkey fashion, quickly disappearing amid the foliage.

The ordinary size of the coaita’s body is about a foot from the nose to the root of the tail, while the tail itself is rather more than two feet in length.

Macaco Barrigudo.

Seated among the boughs may often be seen, in the forests of the Upper Amazon, a number of large, stout-bodied, fat-paunched monkeys, with long flexible tails, furnished underneath with a naked palm, like the hand, for grasping. Their faces are black and wrinkled, their foreheads low, and eyebrows projecting; their features bearing a wonderful resemblance to those of weather-beaten old negroes. The heads of some are covered with black hair, and others with grey. They are called by the Portuguese macacos barrigudos, or big-bellied monkeys. They belong to the species of Lagothrix, and are closely allied to the coaitas. They are bulky fellows, and though able, by means of their prehensile tails, to get along at a good rate among the boughs, seldom trouble themselves to move rapidly.