descend from the trees,
which are their natural _habitat_.

At length they reached the palms; and, seated in various attitudes,
looked up at the tempting fruit, all the while chattering away. How were
they to reach it? Not a tree that was not covered with long needles--not
a bunch of the luscious fruit that was not far above the height of the
tallest marimonda! How were they to get at it?--that was the question.
It might have been a puzzling question to so many boys--to the monkeys
it was not; for in less than a score of seconds they had settled it in
their minds how the pupunhas were to be plucked.

Rising high over the palms grew a large tree, with long out-reaching
branches. It was the "zamang" tree--a species of _mimosa_, and one of
the most beautiful trees of South America. Its trunk rose full seventy
feet without a branch; and then it spread out in every direction in
numerous horizontal limbs, that forked and forked again until they
became slender boughs. These branches were clad with the delicate
pinnate leaves that characterise the family of the mimosas.

Many of the pupunha palms grew under the shadow of this zamang, but not
the tallest ones. These were farther out. There were some, however,
whose tufted crowns reached within a few yards of the lower limbs of the
mimosa.

The monkeys, after a short consultation, were seen scampering up the
zamang. Only some of the old and strong ones went--the rest remained
watching below.

From the earnestness of their looks it was evident they felt a lively
interest in the result. So, too, did the party of travellers; for these
watched so closely, that the pot was in danger of boiling over.

The marimondas, having climbed the trunk, ran out upon the lowermost
limbs, until they were directly above the palms. Then one or two were
seen to drop off, and hang down by their tails. But, although, with
their fore-arms at full stretch, they hung nearly five feet from the
branch, they could not even touch the highest fronds of the palms, much
less the fruit-clusters that were ten or twelve feet farther down. They
made repeated attempts; suspending themselves over the very tallest
palms, but all to no purpose.

One would have supposed they would have given it up as a bad job. So
thought Dona Isidora, Leon, and the little Leona. Don Pablo knew better
by his reading, and Guapo by his experience. When they saw that no one
of them could reach the nuts, several were seen to get toge