barrier exists to check its dispersal, except towards the south, over a much wider space. When I descended the river in 1859 we had with us a tame adult Uakari, which was allowed to ramble about the vessel, a large schooner. When we reached the mouth of the Rio Negro we had to wait four days, whilst the Custom-house officials at Barra, ten miles distant, made out the passports for our crew, and during this time the schooner lay close to the shore, with its bowsprit secured to the trees on the bank. Well, one morning Scarlet-face was missing, having made his escape into the forest. Two men were sent in search of him, but returned, after several hours’ absence, without having caught sight of the runaway. We gave up the Monkey for lost, until the following day, when he re-appeared on the skirts of the forest, and marched quietly down the bowsprit to his usual place on deck. He had evidently found the forests of the Rio Negro very different from those of the delta lands of the Japura, and preferred captivity to freedom in a place that was so uncongenial to him.“ THE BLACK-HEADED SAKI.[105] This, like the last, must be enumerated among the more remarkable Monkeys of the New World, from all of which it is to be immediately distinguished by the extreme shortness of the tail, a structure which would seem to make it the representative of the Baboons of the Old Continent. It is, in fact, the only one hitherto discovered in America whose tail does not exceed three inches in length. It is altogether a small species, that described by Humboldt measuring little more than one foot five inches from the head to the feet. In its adult state, however, it is described as reaching the length of another foot. Its disposition is inactive, phlegmatic, but very docile. It eats with avidity all sorts of fruits--sweet or sour. These it will seize by stretching out both hands at once, bending the back and body at the same time in a forward attitude. The physiognomy has a much more human expression than that of the generality of Monkeys, particularly in the face, which is naked and black. Its profile is not much unlike the Ethiopian. The head is oval, but flattened on the sides. On the eyelids, mouth, and chin there are a few stiff hairs, but the chin has no beard. The ears are large, and like those of the human subject, are naked. The fur is long, shining, and of a uniform yellowish-brown colour over the whole of the body. The fingers are much lengthened, the nails rather flat; and the tail, notwithstanding its shortness, is thick, and almost naked towards its extremity. Broderip compares its face to one of the old withered negroes, who, by great respectability of conduct, have gained their freedom. Another variety is the White-headed Saki,[106] of which we give an illustration. [Illustration: WHITE-HEADED SAKI.] [Illustration: COMMON MARMOSETS.] CHAPTER XII. THE MARMOSETS AND TAMARINS.[107]