Part 13
The mona has pouches on each side of his jaws, and callosities on his posteriors. His tail is about two feet long, which is longer by six inches than both his body and head. The head is small and round, and the muzzle thick and short. The colour of his face is a bright tawney; a stripe of grey hairs on the forehead, another of black from the eyes to the ears, and from the ears to the shoulders and arms. He has a kind of grey beard formed by the hairs on his throat and breast, which is longer than in any other part. His hair is of a reddish black on the body and whitish under the belly. The outside of his legs and thighs are black, and its tail of a dark ash with two white spots on each side of its insertion. He walks on all fours, and his length, from the snout to the origin of his tail, is about a foot and a half. The female is subject to periodical emanations.
THE CALLITRIX, OR GREEN MONKEY.
Callitrix is a term made use of by Homer to express in general the beautiful colour of the hair of animals. It was not till many ages after Homer's time, that the Greeks applied this name to some particular kinds of monkeys, and which, from the propriety of such application, we must suppose to be the animal in question (_fig. 208._). The body is of a fine green colour, the neck and belly white, and the face of a beautiful black. He is found in Mauritania, and in Ancient Carthage; so there is reason to suppose he was known to the Greeks and Romans; and that he was one of the long-tailed monkeys, to which they gave the name of _callitrix_. There is also a species of white monkeys in the adjoining provinces of Egypt, both on the side of Ethiopia and of Arabia, which the ancients have also described by the name of callitrix. Prosper Alpinus and Pietro della Valle, speak of this white monkey, but we have never seen this species, which, perhaps, is only a variety of the green monkey, or the mona, which is very common in those countries.
The callitrix, or green monkey, appears to be known in Senegal, as well as in Mauritania and in the Cape Verd islands. M. Adanson relates, that the woods of Ponor, along the river Niger, are filled with green monkeys. "I discovered these animals, (says this author) only by their breaking off the branches of trees, and throwing them down; for they were so very quiet and nimble in their tricks, that it was scarcely possible to perceive them. I did not walk far, before I killed three of them without in the least terrifying any of the rest: however, when numbers felt themselves wounded, they began to retreat; some concealing themselves behind large branches, and others descending to the ground and running away; but the greatest number leaped from the top of one tree to another. During this bustle I kept firing at them and killed about twenty-three in less than an hour, without any of them uttering a single cry, although they several times assembled together, and made an appearance of attacking me."
_Distinctive Characters of this Species._
The callitrix has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. The tail is much longer than both the head and body. The head is small, the muzzle long, and the face and ears are black: instead of eyebrows, he has a narrow stripe of black hairs across the forehead. The body is of a fine green mixed with a little yellow. He walks on four feet; and the length of his body, including the head, is about fifteen inches. The female is subject to the periodical emanation.
THE MOUSTAC.
The moustac (_fig. 210._) seems to be a native of the same country as the macaque, because its body is, like that, shorter and more compact than the rest of the monkey tribe. This is, probably, the same animal as those who have been to Guinea call White Nose, from its upper lips being of a white colour, and all the rest of the face of a deep blue. It has also two tufts of yellow hair below its ears, which give it a very remarkable appearance, and as it is but small, it seems to be the most beautiful of the monkey kind.
_Distinctive Characters of this Species._
The moustac has pouches on each side of his cheeks, and callosities on his posteriors. The tail is much longer than the head and body, being sometimes nineteen or twenty inches. His face is of a deep blue, with a large broad white mark that goes entirely across the upper lip directly under the nose, which is naked, except a slight edging of black hairs both on the upper and under lips. His body is short and compact. There are two tufts of hair, of a bright yellow, below the ears, and another tuft of bristly hair upon the top of the head. The hair on the body is of a greenish cast, and that on the breast and belly of an ash colour. He walks on all fours, and is about a foot and a half long. The female is subject to a periodical emanation.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._
THE TALAPOIN.
This monkey, (_fig. 211._) though small, is a beautiful animal. Its name seems to indicate that it is a native of Siam, and other eastern provinces of Asia; but though we cannot positively assert this, it is, however, certain that it belongs to the Old Continent, and is not found any where in the New, because it has pouches on each side of its cheeks, and callosities on its posteriors, which characters neither belong to the sagoins nor sapajous, which are the only animals of the New World that can be compared to the monkeys.
What inclines me to think, independently of its name, that this monkey is more common in the East-Indies than in Africa, is, the travellers affirming that most of the apes in this part of Asia have their hair of a brownish green colour. "The monkeys of Guzarat, they say, are of a greenish brown, with long white beards and eyebrows. These animals, which the Banians suffer to multiply in great numbers, from a religious principle, are so familiar that they enter the houses in such numbers that the fruiterers and confectioners have no little difficulty to preserve their merchandize."
Edwards has given a figure and description of a monkey by the name of the _middle-sized black ape_, which seems to approach nearer to the talapoin than any of the rest. We have made a comparison between the two, and, excepting the size and colour, they have such a resemblance to each other, that there is at least a very great approximation between them, if they are not varieties of the same species. In this case, as we are not certain that our talapoin is a native of the East-Indies, and as that spoken of by Mr. Edwards is described by him as an animal belonging to Guinea, we shall refer our talapoin to the same climate, or at least suppose that this species is common in the southern parts both of Africa and Asia. It is also probable, that this is the same as the species of black monkeys mentioned by Bosman under the name of _baurdmannetjes_, the skin of which, he informs us, makes a good fur.
THE DOUC.
The Douc (_fig. 212._) is the last among that class of animals which we have called Apes, Baboons, and Monkeys. This animal, without belonging to any one of these three precisely, yet partakes of them all. Of the monkeys by the length of his tail; of the baboons by his size; and of the ape by the flatness of his face. By a very particular character he seems to form the shade between the monkey and the sapajous. These two tribes differ from the monkeys, having naked posteriors, and all the sapajous having them covered with hair; and the douc is the only monkey which has hair on the posteriors like the sapajous. He resembles them also in the flatness of the muzzle; but he is infinitely nearer to the monkey than the sapajous, from his long tail, and other very essential characters. Besides, the interval which separates these two families is immense, for the douc, and all the monkeys, are natives of the Old Continent, whereas the sapajous are only found in the New. We might also remark, that as the douc has a long tail like the monkeys, but no callosities on his posteriors, he forms the link which connects the orang-outang and the monkeys, as the gibbon does in another respect, having no tail, like the orang-outangs, but only callosities on the posteriors. Independently of these general relations, the douc has particular characters which render him very remarkable, and distinguish him from the apes, baboons, monkeys, or sapajous, at first sight. His skin, which is variegated with different colours, seems to indicate the ambiguity of his nature, and distinguishes his species in a very evident manner. He has a purple collar about his neck, a white beard, his lips are brown, and he has a black ring round his eyes; his face and ears are red, the top of his head and body grey, and the breast and belly yellow. His legs are white downwards and black upwards. His tail is white, with a large spot of the same colour on his loins; and his feet are black, intermixed with shades of different colours.
This animal, which we were assured came from Cochin-China, seems to be likewise found at Madagascar, and is the same as that indicated by Flacourt by the name of _sifac_ in the following terms: "There is, (says he) another kind of white monkey at Madagascar, which has a brown collar, and is often seen erect on its hind feet: its tail is white, with two brown spots on the flanks: it is larger than the _vari_ (maucauco) but less than the _varicossi_ (vari) and this animal is called _sifac_. It lives upon beans. There are great numbers of them towards Andrivoura, Dambourlomb, and Ranafoulchy." The brown collar, the white tail, and the spots on the flanks, are characters which clearly indicate that this _sifac_ of Madagascar is the same species with the douc of Cochin-China.
Travellers inform us that the large apes of the southern parts of Asia produce bezoars in their stomachs, which are superior to those of the goats and gazelles. These large apes are the ouanderou and the douc; to them, therefore, we must refer the production of the bezoar. It is pretended that the bezoars of the ape are always round, whereas the other bezoars are of different figures.
_Distinctive Characters of this Species._
The douc has no callosities on his posteriors, and is cloathed all over with hair: his tail is not so long as his body and head: his face is covered with a reddish down: the ears are naked, and of the same colour as the face: the lips are brown, as are the orbits of the eyes. The colour of the hair is very bright and variegated: he has a purple coloured collar round his neck: his forehead, body, arms, and legs, are white, and on the chin is a kind of yellow beard: he is black on the top of the forehead and the upper part of the arms: the parts below the body are of an ash colour: the tail, and under parts of the loins, are white: he as often walks on two feet as on four: he is three feet and a half, or four feet, high when he is upright. I do not know whether the females in this species be subject to the periodical emanation.
CONCLUSION OF THE APES OF THE OLD CONTINENT.
THE SAPAJOUS AND THE SAGOINS.
We shall now pass from one continent to the other; all the four-handed animals which we have described, and which we comprehended under the generic names of Apes, Baboons, and Monkeys, belong exclusively to the Old Continent; and all those which remain to be spoken of are only to be found in the New World. We shall first distinguish them by the two generic names of Sapajous and Sagoins. Both these animals have their feet nearly like those of the apes, baboons, and monkeys; but they differ from the apes by having tails, and from the baboons and monkeys by not having a pouch in each cheek, nor callosities on their posteriors; in short, they differ from the apes, baboons, and monkeys, by having a broad division between their nostrils, and the apertures being on the sides and not under the nose; therefore the sapajous and sagoins are not only specifically, but even generically different from the apes, monkeys, and baboons. When compared together they are also found to differ in some generic characters, for every sapajou has a long tail, which he can make use of to seize or lay hold of any object. This tail they bend, extend, and curl at pleasure, and by the extremity of which they suspend themselves from the branches of trees to reach whatever they want: the under part of this tail is commonly without hair, and covered with a smooth skin. The tails of the sagoins, on the contrary, are proportionably longer than those of the sapajous, and are weak, straight, and entirely covered with hair, so that they cannot make use of them either to lay hold of any object, or for the purpose of suspending themselves. This difference is alone sufficient to distinguish the sapajou from the sagoin.
We are acquainted with eight sapajous, which probably should be reduced to five species. The first is the _ouarine_, or _gouariba_, of Brasil. This sapajou is as large as a fox, and only differs from that which is called _alouate_ in its colour. The ouarine has black hair, and the alouate red; and as they perfectly resemble each other in every other respect, I consider them as belonging to the same species. The second is the _coaita_, which is black like the ouarine, but not so large: the _exquima_ seems to be a variety of this species. The third is the _sajou_, or _sapajou_, properly so called. This is small, has brown hair, and commonly known by the name of the _capuchin monkey_. There is a variety in this species, which we shall call the _grey sajou_, and which only differs from the _brown sajou_ by this difference of colour. The fourth is the _sai_, called by some travellers the _howler_; he is larger than the _sajou_, and his muzzle is broader: there are two kinds, which differ only by the colour of the hair, the one being of a reddish brown, and the other of a lighter colour. The fifth is the _samiri_, commonly called the _orange monkey_. This last is the smallest and most beautiful of all the sapajous.
We are acquainted with six species of sagoins. The first and largest is the _saki_, whose tail is covered with hair so long and so bushy that it has acquired the name of the _fox-tailed monkey_. There appears to be a variety in this species, for I have seen two, both of which appeared to be adult, and yet one was almost twice as big as the other. The second is the _tamarin_, which is generally black, with four yellow feet, but they vary in colour, some being found of an olive brown, spotted. The third is the _ouistiti_, remarkable for large tufts of hair round his face, and an annulated tail. The fourth is the _marikina_ which has a kind of mane on the neck, and a bunch of hair, like the lion, at the end of the tail, whence it has been called the _small lion_. The fifth is the _pinche_, whose face is of a beautiful black colour, with hairs descending from the top and sides of the head, in the form of long smooth tresses. And the sixth is the _mico_, which is the most beautiful animal of this kind; its hair is of a silver colour, and its face as red as vermilion. We shall now give the history of each of these sapajous and sagoins, most of which have been little known.
THE OUARINE AND THE ALOUATE.
The Ouarine and the Alouate are the largest four-handed animals belonging to the New Continent: they surpass the size of the largest monkey, and approach that of the baboon. They have prehensile tails and are consequently of the sapajous family, in which they hold a very distinguished rank, not only with regard to stature, but also by voice, which resounds like a drum, and may be heard at a very great distance. Marcgrave informs us, "that every morning and evening the ouarines assemble in the woods; that one among them seats himself on an elevated place, makes a sign with his hand to the rest to seat themselves round him; that as soon as he sees them all seated, he begins an oration with so quick and loud a voice as to be heard at a great distance, and it might be imagined they were all making a noise together, but during the whole time the rest keep a profound silence; that when he has ended, he makes a signal to the others to reply, and immediately they all set up a cry together, till such time as by another sign with his hand, he orders them to be silent, and which they instantly obey; that then the first renews his discourse, or song, which, when finished, and the others have paid the utmost attention to it, the whole assembly break up." These circumstances, of which Marcgrave says, he has many times been an eye-witness, may possibly be exaggerated, and seasoned a little with the marvellous. The whole, probably, is only founded on the frightful noise these animals make; they have in their throats a kind of bony drum, in the cavity of which the sound of the voice thickens, encreases, and forms a kind of howling reverberation; upon which account these sapajous have been distinguished from the rest by the name of howlers. We have never seen the ouarine, but we have the skin and the dried foetus of an alouate, in which the instrument of the loud noise he makes, that is to say, the bone of the throat, is very apparent. According to Marcgrave, the face of the ouarine is broad, the eyes black and sparkling, the ears short and round, and a tail naked at the extremity, which holds firmly whatever it encircles; the hair of the body is black, long, and glossy; it is much the longest under the chin, and forms a kind of round beard; the hair on the hands, feet, and a part of the tail, is brown. The female is of the same colour as the male, and only differs from him in being smaller. The females carry their young on their backs, and thus loaded leap from branch to branch and from tree to tree. The young ones clasp the mother round the narrowest part of the body with the hands and arms, and thus remain firmly fastened, while she keeps in motion. These animals are so wild and mischievous, that they can neither be tamed nor subdued; they bite dreadfully, and although they are not among the carnivorous animals, yet they excite fear by their frightful voice and ferocious air. As they live only on fruits, grain, and some insects, their flesh is not bad eating. "The hunters, says Oexmelin, bring home in the evening the monkies they have killed in the Cape Gracias-a-Dio; they roast one part of these animals and boil the other; its flesh is very good, and resembles that of the hare, but being of a sweetish flavour, a good quantity of salt must be put to that part which is roasted; the fat is yellow like that of a capon, and is very good. We lived on these animals all the time we remained there, because we could procure no other food, and our hunters brought us every day as many of them as we could eat. My curiosity led me to see the method of hunting them, and I was surprised at their sagacity, not only in particularly distinguishing their enemies, but also in the manner in which they defended and secured themselves. When we approached towards them, they assembled together, set up loud and frightful cries, and threw branches at us which they broke from the trees; some voided their excrements in their hands, and threw them at our heads. I also remarked, that they never forsook each other; that they leaped from tree to tree with an almost imperceptible nimbleness; and that, though they took the most desperate leaps, they seldom fell to the ground; because they never missed catching hold of the branches either with their hands or tail, which rendered it very difficult to take them, even after they were shot, unless absolutely killed; for if only wounded, they remain clinging to the branch, where they often die, and do not drop off until they are putrefied. I have seen them hang in this manner for four or five days after death, and it is not uncommon to shoot fifteen or sixteen without being able to get more than two or three. What appeared still more singular, the moment one of them was wounded, the rest assembled round, and clapt their fingers into the wound, as if they were desirous of sounding its depth; and if the blood flow in any quantity, some of them keep it shut up, while others get leaves, which they chew and thrust into the orifice. I have seen this circumstance several times with admiration. The females bring forth only one at a time, which they carry on their backs in the same manner as the Negresses do their children. When they suckle their young, they take them in their paws, and present the breast to them like a woman. There is no other way of taking the young than by shooting its mother, for she never forsakes it; but when she is killed, it tumbles to the ground, and then it is easily taken."
Dampier confirms most of these circumstances; but asserts, that these animals commonly bring forth two at a time, and that the mother carries one under her arm and the other upon her back. The smallest species of sapajous do not bring forth many, and it is therefore very probable that the largest produce not more than one or two at a time.
_Distinctive Characters of this Species._
The ouarine has the apertures of the nostrils placed on the sides, and not under the nose; the partition which divides the nostrils is very thick. He has neither pouches on the sides of his jaws, nor callosities on his posteriors, those parts being covered with hair like the rest of the body. His tail is long and prehensile. His hair is long and black, and in his throat is a thick concave bone. He is about the size of a greyhound. The long hair under his neck forms a kind of round beard, and he generally walks on all fours.
The alouate has the same character as the ouarine, and seems to differ from him only in having a larger beard, and a reddish-coloured hair. I do not know whether the females of this species are subject to a periodical emanation; but from analogy, I should presume the contrary, for I have generally observed, that the apes, baboons, and monkeys, with naked posteriors, alone are subject to this emanation.
THE COAITA, AND THE EXQUIMA.
Next to the ouarine and the alouate, the coaita (_fig. 213._) is the largest of the sapajous. I saw one alive at the Duke of Bouillon's, where, by its familiarity and forward caresses, it deserved and obtained the affection of those who had it under their care; but notwithstanding all the good treatment and attention paid to it, it could not resist the cold of the winter 1764. It died regretted by its master, who was so kind as to send it to me to place it in the Royal Cabinet. I saw another at the Marquis de Montmirail's, the latter was a male, and the former a female, and both were equally tractable and well tamed. This sapajou, by its gentle and docile disposition, differs greatly from the ouarine and the alouate, which are extremely wild and untameable. It also differs from them in not having a bony pouch in the throat. Like the ouarine, its hair is black, but rough. The coaita also differs from them, in having but four fingers and no thumb to the fore paws: by this character and its prehensile tail it is easily distinguished from the monkeys, who have all five fingers and a flaccid tail.