American monkeys, being
about three feet standing upon its hind-legs, with a tail of immense
length, thick and strong near the root, and tapering to a point. On its
under side, for the last foot or so from the end, there is no hair, but
a callous skin, and this is the part used for holding on to the
branches. The marimonda is far from being a handsome monkey. Its long,
thin arms and thumb-less hands give it an attenuated appearance, which
is not relieved by the immense disproportioned tail. It is reddish, or
of a parched coffee colour, on the upper part of the body, which becomes
blanched on the throat, belly, and insides of the thighs. Its colour,
in fact, is somewhat of the hue of the half-blood Indian and Negro,--
hence the marimonda is known in some parts of Spanish America by the
name of "mono zambo," or "zambo" monkey--a "zambo" being the descendant
of Indian and Negro parents.

The noise made by the marimondas which had been heard by our party
seemed to proceed from the bank of the river, some distance above the
promontory; but it was evidently growing louder every minute, and they
judged that the monkeys were approaching.

In a few minutes they appeared in sight, passing along the upper part of
a grove of trees that stood close to the water. Our travellers had now
an excellent view of them, and they sat watching them with interest.
Their mode of progression was extremely curious. They never came to the
ground, but where the branches interlocked they ran from one to the
other with the lightning speed of squirrels, or, indeed, like birds upon
the wing. Sometimes, however, the boughs stood far apart. Then the
marimonda, running out as far as the branch would bear him, would warp a
few inches of his tail around it and spring off into the air. In the
spring he would give himself such an impetus as would cause the branch
to revolve, and his body following this circular motion, with the long
thin arms thrown out in front, he would grasp the first branch that he
could reach. This, of course, would land him on a new tree, and over
that he would soon spring to the next.

Among the troop several females were perceived with their young. The
latter were carried on the backs of the mothers, where they held on by
means of their own little tails, feeling perfectly secure. Sometimes
the mothers would dismount them, and cause them to swing themselves from
branch to branch, going before to show them the way. This w