The Naturalist on the River Amazons [211]
ceased.
After seeing much of the morose disposition of the Uakari, I was not a little surprised one day at a friend's house to find an extremely lively and familiar individual of this species. It ran from an inner chamber straight towards me after I had sat down on a chair, climbed my legs and nestled in my lap, turning round and looking up with the usual monkey's grin, after it had made itself comfortable. It was a young animal which had been taken when its mother was shot with a poisoned arrow; its teeth were incomplete, and the face was pale and mottled, the glowing scarlet hue not supervening in these animals before mature age; it had also a few long black hairs on the eyebrows and lips. The frisky little fellow had been reared in the house amongst the children, and allowed to run about freely, and take its meals with the rest of the household. There are few animals which the Brazilians of these villages have not succeeded in taming. I have even seen young jaguars running loose about a house, and treated as pets. The animals that I had rarely became familiar, however long they might remain in my possession, a circumstance due no doubt to their being kept always tied up.
The Uakari is one of the many species of animals which are classified by the Brazilians as "mortal," or of delicate constitution, in contradistinction to those which are "duro," or hardy. A large proportion of the specimens sent from Ega die before arriving at Para, and scarcely one in a dozen succeeds in reaching Rip Janeiro alive. The difficulty it has of accommodating itself to changed conditions probably has some connection with the very limited range or confined sphere of life of the species in its natural state, its native home being an area of swampy woods, not more than about sixty square miles in extent, although no permanent barrier exists to cheek its dispersal, except towards the south, over a much wider space. When I descended the river in 1859, we had with us a tame adult Uakari, which was allowed to ramble about the vessel, a large schooner. When we reached the mouth of the Rio Negro, we had to wait four days while the custom-house officials at Barra, ten miles distant, made out the passports for our crew, and during this time the schooner lay close to the shore, with its bowsprit secured to the trees on the bank. Well, one morning, scarlet-face was missing, having made his escape into the forest. Two men were sent in search of him, but returned after several hours' absence without having caught sight of the runaway. We gave up the monkey for lost, until the following day, when he re-appeared on the skirts of the forest, and marched quietly down the bowsprit to his usual place on deck. He had evidently found the forests of the Rio Negro very different from those of the delta lands of the Japura, and preferred captivity to freedom in a place that was so uncongenial to him.
The Parauacu Monkey.--Another Ega monkey, nearly related to the Uakaris, is the Parauacu (Pithecia hirsuta), a timid inoffensive creature with a long bear-like coat of harsh speckled-grey hair. The long fur hangs over the head, half concealing the pleasing diminutive face, and clothes also the tail to the tip, which member is well developed, being eighteen inches in length, or longer than the body. The Parauacu is found on the "terra firma" lands of the north shore of the Solimoens from Tunantins to Peru. It exists also on the south side of the river, namely, on the banks of the Teffe, but there under a changed form, which differs a little from its type in colours. This form has been described by Dr. Gray as a distinct species, under the name of Pithecia albicans. The Parauacu is also a very delicate animal, rarely living many weeks in captivity; but any one who succeeds in keeping it alive for a month or two, gains by it a most affectionate pet. One of the specimens of Pithecia albicans now in the British Museum was, when living, the property of a young Frenchman, a neighbour of mine at Ega. It became so tame in the course of a few weeks that it followed him
After seeing much of the morose disposition of the Uakari, I was not a little surprised one day at a friend's house to find an extremely lively and familiar individual of this species. It ran from an inner chamber straight towards me after I had sat down on a chair, climbed my legs and nestled in my lap, turning round and looking up with the usual monkey's grin, after it had made itself comfortable. It was a young animal which had been taken when its mother was shot with a poisoned arrow; its teeth were incomplete, and the face was pale and mottled, the glowing scarlet hue not supervening in these animals before mature age; it had also a few long black hairs on the eyebrows and lips. The frisky little fellow had been reared in the house amongst the children, and allowed to run about freely, and take its meals with the rest of the household. There are few animals which the Brazilians of these villages have not succeeded in taming. I have even seen young jaguars running loose about a house, and treated as pets. The animals that I had rarely became familiar, however long they might remain in my possession, a circumstance due no doubt to their being kept always tied up.
The Uakari is one of the many species of animals which are classified by the Brazilians as "mortal," or of delicate constitution, in contradistinction to those which are "duro," or hardy. A large proportion of the specimens sent from Ega die before arriving at Para, and scarcely one in a dozen succeeds in reaching Rip Janeiro alive. The difficulty it has of accommodating itself to changed conditions probably has some connection with the very limited range or confined sphere of life of the species in its natural state, its native home being an area of swampy woods, not more than about sixty square miles in extent, although no permanent barrier exists to cheek its dispersal, except towards the south, over a much wider space. When I descended the river in 1859, we had with us a tame adult Uakari, which was allowed to ramble about the vessel, a large schooner. When we reached the mouth of the Rio Negro, we had to wait four days while the custom-house officials at Barra, ten miles distant, made out the passports for our crew, and during this time the schooner lay close to the shore, with its bowsprit secured to the trees on the bank. Well, one morning, scarlet-face was missing, having made his escape into the forest. Two men were sent in search of him, but returned after several hours' absence without having caught sight of the runaway. We gave up the monkey for lost, until the following day, when he re-appeared on the skirts of the forest, and marched quietly down the bowsprit to his usual place on deck. He had evidently found the forests of the Rio Negro very different from those of the delta lands of the Japura, and preferred captivity to freedom in a place that was so uncongenial to him.
The Parauacu Monkey.--Another Ega monkey, nearly related to the Uakaris, is the Parauacu (Pithecia hirsuta), a timid inoffensive creature with a long bear-like coat of harsh speckled-grey hair. The long fur hangs over the head, half concealing the pleasing diminutive face, and clothes also the tail to the tip, which member is well developed, being eighteen inches in length, or longer than the body. The Parauacu is found on the "terra firma" lands of the north shore of the Solimoens from Tunantins to Peru. It exists also on the south side of the river, namely, on the banks of the Teffe, but there under a changed form, which differs a little from its type in colours. This form has been described by Dr. Gray as a distinct species, under the name of Pithecia albicans. The Parauacu is also a very delicate animal, rarely living many weeks in captivity; but any one who succeeds in keeping it alive for a month or two, gains by it a most affectionate pet. One of the specimens of Pithecia albicans now in the British Museum was, when living, the property of a young Frenchman, a neighbour of mine at Ega. It became so tame in the course of a few weeks that it followed him