The Boy Travellers in South America: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentine Republic, and ChiliKnox, Thomas Wallace
General
The Boy Travellers in South America: Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentine Republic, and Chili
Knox, Thomas Wallace
South America -- Description and travel -- Juvenile literature
Frank's sympathies were awakened by the affection displayed by the
marmoset, and a bargain was quickly made. Manuel conducted the
negotiation, and the monkey became the property of the youth for an
outlay of fifty cents. He paid a high price, as he afterwards
ascertained, but at that time he was not familiar with the market
quotations for this kind of live-stock.
Marmosets are the smallest members of the monkey family. The name is
confined to the American varieties, and is sometimes restricted to the
striated monkey of Guiana or Brazil. This last-named monkey has a tail a
third longer than the body, the latter rarely exceeding eight or ten
inches. Its fur is long and soft, and of a yellowish-gray color; both
tail and body are banded with black, and there is a long tuft of white
hairs on each side of the head, which is of a deep black or brown.
The new purchase received the name of Gypsy, and soon became a general
favorite with the party, though it always recognized Frank as its
master. It was a well-behaved pet, and, contrary to Frank's expectation,
it never indulged in mischievous tricks. Manuel said the marmosets were
rarely destructive, but the same could not be said of the rest of the
monkey tribe in South America. The sapajous, he pronounced the worst of
the lot; they are distributed through Brazil, and, though affectionate
enough as pets, are too mischievous to be kept in a house or camp.
[Illustration: A MONKEY ROBBING BIRDS' NESTS.]
"Three or four years ago," said Manuel, "I was on the Mamoré River with
an English gentleman who had bought a sapajou while ascending the
Amazon. He kept the fellow in a cage for a while, and then allowed him
the run of the boat. The first day he was at liberty he threw overboard
two of the dinner plates, and was punished by being shut up again.
"When he was free once more, he picked up a book that was lying on the
deck, and when discovered he had torn out at least half the leaves, and
tossed them into the water. He was again caged, and after a time was let
out, but they fastened a chain about him so that he could not run
around.
"Under this restraint he behaved very well, and displayed, or pretended
to display, a fondness for his owner. The gentleman was one day working
at the notes of his journey, and the monkey was chained close to his
table, under the awning in the centre of the boat.
"He had a large map on the table, and had been marking his route with
red ink along the course of the river. He was called suddenly from the
table, leaving the map and the ink-bottle within the monkey's reach.
"As soon as he had gone, the monkey, doubtless in a spirit of imitation,
climbed to the table, pulled the map towards him, and with his paw,
dipped in the ink, made an imaginary survey of a railway or a steamboat
route, at least a thousand miles long, according to the scale of the
drawing. Just as he was finishing the performance the master returned,
and caught him at it."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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