Narrative, of a five years' expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana on the Wild Coast of South America; from the year 1772 to 1777 ... Volume 2 (of 2)Stedman, John Gabriel
History
Narrative, of a five years' expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, in Guiana on the Wild Coast of South America; from the year 1772 to 1777 ... Volume 2 (of 2)
Stedman, John Gabriel
Indians of South America -- Guiana; Slavery -- Suriname -- History -- 18th century; Stedman, John Gabriel, 1744-1797 -- Travel -- Suriname; Suriname -- Description and travel; Suriname -- History -- To 1814
It is not so extraordinary that one of this species, when wounded,
should be assisted by his companions in climbing; but that they should
have so much knowledge in botany, as to procure vulnerary herbs, and
chew and apply them to the wound, is what I cannot credit, though it is
so confidently asserted by a late traveller: and as to the assistance
they give in passing a river, by holding each other’s tails, and
swinging till the lowermost is thrown up to the branch of a high tree,
though I have a great opinion of Ulloa, who relates it, and has given a
print of it in a vignette; since he does not say he saw it himself, I
must take the liberty to doubt this fact [1], and even what he says he
witnessed.
I must here mention another monkey that I saw at Colonel Fourgeoud’s
house, which is in Surinam called the wanacoe, and is covered over with
long black hair, like the quato; but its limbs are shorter and more
hairy, and its face is a kind of dirty white. This monkey is the only
one of the species that is not sociable, being constantly found alone;
and so despicable is this solitary animal, that he is continually
beaten and robbed of his food by all the others, from whom he is too
lazy to escape, though too cowardly to fight.
Of the long-haired monkies, the saccawinkee is the smallest; indeed, I
may say of all the monkies in Guiana, if not in the world, being not
much larger than a Norway rat.
This is a beautiful little animal, with blackish grey frizzled hair, a
white face, and very bright shining eyes; its ears are large and naked,
yet they are not very perceptible, being covered by the very long and
white whiskers that grow round the whole visage of this little
creature: its feet are not unlike those of a squirrel, and its tail is
bushy and annulated. So very delicate is the saccawinkee, and so
sensible of the cold, that scarcely one of them is brought to Europe
alive, and if they are they very soon pine and die. The Dutch call them
the shagarintee, from their being chagrined at the smallest trifle. In
the annexed plate, I have delineated both those monkies, the large
quato, and the small saccawinkee, thus endeavouring to correct with my
pencil the deficiency of my pen.
On my return to the Magdenberg, I narrowly escaped being crushed to
death by an enormous tree, which dropped by age just at my feet. These
accidents frequently happen in the forest; this, however, only slightly
wounded two or three of our marines. During this trip we had much rain,
and were obliged to cross over a small creek. We cut down one of the
palm-trees on the water’s edge, which falling across the river formed a
temporary bridge.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account