uled away till the other monkeys in succession were drawn
up, and the one which had been in the water was placed safely on the
bough. The whole operation was carried on amid the most terrible
howlings and cries, as if the creatures, all the time that they were
performing this really heroic act, were suffering the greatest possible
pain. The chatterings, shrieks, and cries continued after they were all
seated on the bough, convincing us that the monkey which had tumbled
into the water was telling its companions about the strange creatures it
had seen; for they all cast eager glances around and below them, peering
through the foliage, evidently endeavouring to catch a sight of us.
Though I could have shot one of them, I could not bring myself to do so
after seeing the way they had behaved. Presently they saw us, and one
glance was sufficient; for, renewing their shrieks and cries, they
sprang up the vines, like sailors swarming up ropes, and quickly
disappeared amid the dense foliage. Still, we could hear them
chattering away in the distance, and I have no doubt that they were
communicating their ideas about us to each other, and all the monkeys
they met.

Having remained perfectly silent, we presently saw a little dark head,
with bright eyes, looking out at us from among the boughs; then another,
and another came; and as we did not move they gained courage, and crept
nearer and nearer. They looked so comical that Marian could not help
bursting into a fit of laughter, in which I joined; but no sooner did
the monkeys hear our voices than off they scampered to the end of a
bough which stretched a considerable way across the stream. They now,
almost with the rapidity of lightning, formed a chain similar to the one
they had made to drag up their companion, and began swinging backwards
and forwards, each time approaching nearer the opposite shore. At last
the monkey at the end of the chain caught, with his outstretched arms, a
bough extending from that side, and then climbed up the trunk, dragging
his companions after him, till the whole hung like a festoon across the
river, or rather like a rope-bridge, for a bridge it was. A whole tribe
of monkeys now appeared upon the bough on our side, and began to cross
by the living bridge thus formed, chattering and shrieking as they ran
till they reached the opposite bank. There were old monkeys, and mother
monkeys with little ones on their backs, and young monkeys of all sizes