by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER XLVII.
THE ARAGUATOES.
Our party had passed several of these jacitaras, made the balza fast,landed, and were just cooking their scanty supper, when they heard aband of howling monkeys afar off in the woods. There was nothing unusualin this; for these creatures are heard at all times among the forests ofthe Amazon, especially at sunrise and before sunset, or whenever thereis any appearance of the approach of a rain-storm.
Our travellers would not have noticed their voices on this occasion, butthat they seemed to be approaching in that direction; and as they werecoming along the bank of the main river, Guapo concluded that onarriving at the "igaripe" they would turn up it and pass near where thebalza was, and thus he might have them within reach of his gravatana. Itwas certain they were coming down the river side--of course upon thetree-tops, and would, no doubt, turn up as Guapo expected, for the treeson the opposite side of the igaripe stood too far apart even for monkeysto spring across.
After waiting for half-an-hour or so, the hideous howling of the monkeyscould be heard at no great distance, and they were taking the desiredroute. In fact, in a few minutes after, the troop appeared upon sometall trees that stood on the edge of the creek, not fifty yards fromwhere the balza was moored. They were large animals, of that lanky andslender shape that characterises the prehensile-tailed monkeys; butthese were different from the _ateles_ already mentioned. They weretrue howlers, as they had already proved by the cries they had beenuttering for the half-hour past.
There are several species of howling monkeys, as we have already stated.Those that had arrived on the igaripe Guapo pronounced to be_araguatoes_. Their bodies are of a reddish-brown colour on the body andshoulders, lighter underneath, and their naked wrinkled faces are of abluish black, and with very much of the expression of an old man. Theirhair is full and bushy, and gives them some resemblance to a bear,whence their occasional name of "bear-ape," and also their zoologicaldesignation, _Simia ursina_. The araguato is full three feet without thetail, and that powerful member is much longer.
When the band made its appearance on the igaripe, they were seen to cometo a halt, all of them gathering into a great tree that stood by thewater's edge. This tree rose higher than the rest, and the most of themonkeys having climbed among the top branches, were visible from thebalza. There were about fifty in the troop, and one that seemed largerthan any of the others appeared to act as leader. Many of them werefemales, and there were not a few that had young ones, which theycarried upon their backs just as the Indian mothers and those of othersavage nations carry their children.
Most of the little monkeys lay along the backs of their mothers,clasping them around the neck with their fore-arms, while their hindones girdled the middle of the body. But it was in their tails thelittle fellows seemed to place most reliance. The top parts of thesewere firmly lapped around the thick base of the tails of the old ones,and thus not only secured their seat, but made it quite impossible forthem to drop off. No force could have shaken them from this hold,without dragging out their tails or tearing their bodies to pieces,indeed, it was necessary they should be thus firmly seated, as theexertions of the mothers,--their quick motions and long springing leapsfrom tree to tree--would otherwise have been impossible.
On reaching the bank of the igaripe, the araguatoes were evidently atfault. Their intention had been to proceed down along the main river,and the creek now interfered. Its water lay directly across theircourse, and how were they to get over it? Swim it, you may, say. Ha!little do you know the dread these creatures have of water. Yes; strangeto say, although many species of them pass their lives upon trees thatoverhang water, or even grow out of it, they are as much afraid of thewater beneath them as if it were fire. A cat is not half so dainty aboutwetting her feet as some monkeys are; and besides a cat can swim, whichthe monkeys cannot--at best so badly that in a few minutes they woulddrown.
Strange, is it not, that among animals, those that approach nearest toman, like him are not gifted by nature with the power of swimming? It isevident, then, that that is an art left to be discovered by theintellect of man. To fall into the water would be a sad mishap for amonkey, not only on account of the ducking, but of the danger. There isnot much likelihood of an araguato falling in. Even though one branchmay have broken and failed it, in the great concave sphere which it canso quickly trace around it by means of its five long members, it is sureof finding a second. No; the araguatoes might spend a life-time in theflooded forest without even wetting a hair farther than what is wettedby the rain.
From their movements, it was evident the igaripe had puzzled them; and aconsultation was called among the branches of the tall tree alreadymentioned. Upon one of the very highest sat the large old fellow who wasevidently leader of the band. His harangue was loud and long,accompanied by many gestures of his hands, head, and tail. It was, nodoubt, exceedingly eloquent. Similar speeches delivered by other oldaraguato chiefs, have been compared to the creaking of an ungreasedbullock-cart, mingled with the rumbling of the wheels!
Our party thought the comparison a just one. The old chief finished atlength. Up to this point not one of the others had said a word. They allsat silent, observing perfect decorum; indeed, much greater than isobserved in the great British Parliament or the Congress of America.Occasionally one of the children might utter a slight squeak, or throwout its hand to catch a mosquito; but in such cases a slap from the pawof the mother, or a rough shaking, soon reduced it to quiet.
When the chief had ended speaking, however, no debate in either Congressor Parliament could have equalled the noise that then arose. Everyaraguato seemed to have something to say, and all spoke at the sametime. If the speech of the old one was like the creaking of abullock-cart, the voices of all combined might appropriately be comparedto a whole string of these vehicles, with half the quantity of greaseand a double allowance of wheels!
Once more the chief, by a sign, commanded silence, and the rest becamemute and motionless as before.
This time the speech of the leader appeared to refer to the business inhand--in short, to the crossing of the igaripe. He was seen repeatedlypointing in that direction, as he spoke, and the rest followed hismotions with their eyes.
