With the World's Great Travellers Volume Ii Part 15

In order to render the meal a peculiarly dainty one, they also buried some Indian corn and roots in the cinders. They then gathered a few large fresh leaves off the trees, tore the roasted ape into several pieces with their hands, and, placing a large portion of it, as well as a parrot, Indian corn, and some roots, upon the leaves, put it before me. My appet.i.te was tremendous, seeing that I had tasted nothing since the morning. I therefore immediately fell to upon the roasted monkey, which I found superlatively delicious; the flesh of the parrot was far from being so tender and palatable.

[As we have begun this selection with a perilous adventure of our lady traveller, some other perils encountered by her in other parts of the world may fitly close it. The following experience in a tiger-hunt took place in India, during an excursion to the rock temples of Ellora.]

I had scarcely left the gates of the town behind, when I perceived a number of Europeans seated upon elephants, coming from the bungalow. On meeting each other we pulled up and commenced a conversation. The gentlemen were on the road to search for a tiger-lair, of which they had received intimation, and invited me, if such a sport would not frighten me too much, to take part in it. I was greatly delighted to receive the invitation, and was soon seated on one of the elephants, in a howdah about two feet high, in which there were already two gentlemen and a native,--the latter had been brought to load the guns. They gave me a large knife to defend myself, in case the animal should spring too high and reach the side of the howdah. Thus prepared, we approached the chain of hills, and after a few hours we were already pretty near the lair of the tigers, when our servants cried out softly, "_Bach, Bach!_" and pointed with their fingers to some brushwood.

I had scarcely perceived the flaming eyes which glared out of one of the bushes before shots were fired. Several b.a.l.l.s took effect upon the animal, who rushed, maddened, upon us. He made such tremendous springs, that I thought every moment he must reach the howdah, and select a victim from among us. The sight was terrible to see, and my apprehensions were increased by the appearance of another tiger; however, I kept myself so calm, that none of the gentlemen had any suspicion of what was going on in my mind. Shot followed shot; the elephants defended their trunks with great dexterity by throwing them up or drawing them in. After a sharp contest of half an hour, we were the victors, and the dead animals were triumphantly stripped of their beautiful skins. The gentlemen politely offered me one of them as a present; but I declined accepting it, as I could not postpone my journey sufficiently long for it to be dried.

[Madame Pfeiffer had a courage and presence of mind in dangerous and difficult situations which often served her in good stead. Certainly it needed no slight courage to undertake the adventure described in our next selection, a journey among the cannibal Battakers of Sumatra. In 1835 two American missionaries had been killed and eaten by them, and such a journey without a military escort seemed foolhardy. But she persisted, and reached a village on the borders of the Battaker territory July 19, 1852. Here she sent for the regents of the neighboring villages.]

In the evening we sat in solemn conclave surrounded by regents, and by a great crowd of the people, for it had been noised abroad far and wide that here was a white woman who was about to venture into the dreaded country of the wild Battakers. Regents and people all concurred in advising me to renounce so perilous a project; but I had tolerably made up my mind on this point, and I only wanted to be satisfied as to one thing,--namely, whether it was true, as many travellers a.s.serted, that the Battakers did not put their victims out of their pain at once, but tied them living to stakes, and, cutting pieces off them, consumed them by degrees with tobacco and salt.

The idea of this slow torture did a little frighten me; but my bearers a.s.sured me, with one accord, that this was only done to those who were regarded as criminals of a deep dye, and who had been on that account condemned to death. Prisoners of war are tied to a tree and beheaded at once; but the blood is carefully preserved for drinking, and sometimes made into a kind of pudding with boiled rice. The body is then distributed; the ears, the nose, and the soles of the feet are the exclusive property of the rajah, who has besides a claim on other portions. The palms of the hands, the soles of the feet, the flesh of the head, and the heart and liver, are reckoned peculiar delicacies, and the flesh in general is roasted and eaten with salt. The regents a.s.sured me, with a certain air of relish, that it was very good food, and that they had not the least objection to eat it. The women are not allowed to take part in these grand public dinners. A kind of medicinal virtue is ascribed to trees to which prisoners have been tied when they have been put to death, and the stem is usually cut into sticks five or six feet long, carved into figures or arabesques, and decorated with human hair; and these sticks are taken in hand by people who go to visit the sick, or when any medicine is to be given.

[Despite this gruesome warning, the daring woman continued her journey, and prosecuted it until the 13th of August, when she found herself in the most imminent peril.]

More than eighty armed men stood in the pathway and barred our pa.s.sage, and before we were aware of it, their spearmen had formed a circle around me and shut me in, looking the while indescribably terrible and savage. They were tall robust men, fully six feet high; their features showed the most violent agitation, and their huge mouths and projecting teeth had really more resemblance to the jaws of a wild beast than to anything human. They yelled and made a dreadful noise about me, and had I not been in some measure familiar with such scenes, I should have felt sure that my last hour was at hand.

I was really uneasy, however: the scene was too frightful; but I never lost my presence of mind. At first I sat down on a stone that lay near, endeavoring to look as composed and confident as I could; but some rajahs then came up to me with very threatening looks and gestures, and gave me clearly to understand that if I did not turn back they would kill and eat me. Their words, indeed, I did not comprehend, but their action left no manner of doubt, for they pointed with their knives to my throat, and gnashed their teeth at my arm, moving their jaws then as if they already had them full of my flesh.

Of course, when I thought of coming among the wild Battakers, I had antic.i.p.ated something of this sort, and I had therefore studied a little speech in their language for such an occasion. I knew if I could say anything that would amuse them, and perhaps make them laugh, I would have a great advantage over them, for savages are quite like children, and the merest trifle will often make them friends. I got up, therefore, and patting one of the most violent, who stood next me, upon the shoulder in a friendly manner, said, with smiling face, in a jargon half Malay and half Battaker, "Why, you don't mean to say you would kill and eat a woman, especially such an old one as I am! I must be very hard and tough!" And I also gave them by signs and words to understand that I was not at all afraid of them, and was ready, if they liked, to send back my guide, if they would only take me as far as the _Eier-Tau_.

Fortunately for me, the doubtless very odd way in which I p.r.o.nounced their language, and my pantomime, diverted them, and they began to laugh. Perhaps, also, the fearless confidence which I manifested made a good impression; they offered me their hands, the circle of spearmen opened, and, rejoicing not a little at having escaped this danger, I journeyed on, and reached in perfect safety a place called Tugala, where the rajah received me into his house.

BRAZILIAN ANTS AND MONKEYS.

HENRY W. BATES.

[The "Naturalist in the Amazons" of Henry Walter Bates is a work that has long held a deserved reputation for the closeness and accuracy of its observations and the interest of its narrative. The author, born at Leicester, England, in 1825, accompanied the noted biologist, Alfred Russel Wallace, to Brazil, the story of which journey is given in the work cited.

From it we extract some pa.s.sages concerning the animal life of that country, embracing the doings of the "leaf-cutting" ants and the monkeys. Our selections begin in the suburbs of Para.]

In the gardens numbers of fine showy b.u.t.terflies were seen. There were two swallow-tailed species, similar in colors to the English _Papilio machaon_, a white Pieris (_P. monuste_), and two or three species of brimstone- and orange-colored b.u.t.terflies, which do not belong, however, to the same genus as our English species. In weedy places a beautiful b.u.t.terfly with eye-like spots on its wings was common, the _Junonia lavinia_, the only Amazonian species which is at all nearly related to our Vanessas, the Admiral and Peac.o.c.k b.u.t.terflies.

One day we made our first acquaintance with two of the most beautiful productions of nature in this department,--namely, the _Helicopis cupido_ and _endymion_. A little beyond our house one of the narrow green lanes which I have already mentioned diverged from the mongabu avenue, and led between enclosures overrun with a profusion of creeping plants and glorious flowers down to a moist hollow, where there was a public well and a picturesque nook, buried in a grove of mucaja palm-trees. On the tree-trunks, walls, and palings grew a great quant.i.ty of climbing Pothos plants, with large, glossy, heart-shaped leaves.

These plants were the resort of these two exquisite species, and we captured a great number of specimens. They are of extremely delicate texture. The wings are cream-colored; the hind pair have several tail-like appendages, and are spangled beneath as if with silver. Their flight is very slow and feeble; they seek the protected under surface of the leaves, and in repose close their wings over the back, so as to expose the brilliantly spotted under surface.

I will pa.s.s over the many orders and families of insects, and proceed at once to the ants. These were in great numbers everywhere, but I will mention here only two kinds. We were amazed at seeing ants an inch and a quarter in length, and stout in proportion, marching in single file through the thickets. These belonged to the species called _Dinoponera grandis_. Its colonies consist of a small number of individuals, and are established about the roots of slender trees. It is a stinging species, but the sting is not so severe as in many of the smaller kinds. There was nothing peculiar or attractive in the habits of this giant among the ants. Another far more interesting species was the Sauba (_Oecodoma cephalotes_). This ant is seen everywhere about the suburbs, marching to and fro in broad columns. From its habit of despoiling the most valuable cultivated trees of their foliage, it is a great scourge to the Brazilians. In some districts it is so abundant that agriculture is almost impossible, and everywhere complaints are heard of the terrible pest....

In our first walks we were puzzled to account for large mounds of earth, of a different color from the surrounding soil, which were thrown up in the plantations and woods. Some of them were very extensive, being forty yards in circ.u.mference, but not more than two feet in height. We soon ascertained that these were the work of the Saubas, being the outworks or domes which overlie and protect the entrances to their vast subterranean galleries. On close examination I found the earth of which they are composed to consist of very minute granules, agglomerated with cement, and forming many rows of little ridges and turrets. The difference in color from the superficial soil of the vicinity is owing to their being formed of the under-soil, brought up from a considerable depth.

It is very rarely that the ants are seen at work on these mounds; the entrances seem to be generally closed; only now and then, when some particular work is going on, are the galleries opened. The entrances are small and numerous; in the larger hillocks it would require a great amount of excavation to get at the main galleries; but I succeeded in removing portions of the dome in smaller hillocks, and then I found that the minor entrances converged, at the depth of about two feet, to one broad, elaborately worked gallery or mine, which was four or five inches in diameter.

The habit in the Sauba ant of clipping and carrying away immense quant.i.ties of leaves has long been recorded in books on natural history.

When employed on this work their processions look like a mult.i.tude of animated leaves on the march. In some places I found an acc.u.mulation of such leaves, all circular pieces, about the size of a sixpence, lying on the pathway, unattended by ants, and at some distance from the colony.

Such heaps are always found to be removed when the place is revisited the next day. In course of time I had plenty of opportunities of seeing them at work. They mount the trees in mult.i.tudes, the individuals being all worker-miners. Each one places itself on the surface of a leaf, and cuts with its sharp, scissor-like jaws, and by a sharp jerk detaches the piece. Sometimes they let the leaf drop to the ground, where a little heap acc.u.mulates until carried away by another relay of workers; but generally each marches off with the piece it has operated upon, and, as all take the same road to their colony, the path they follow becomes in a short time smooth and bare, looking like the impression of a cart-wheel through the herbage.

It is a most interesting sight to see the vast host of busy diminutive laborers occupied on this work. Unfortunately, they choose cultivated trees for their purpose. This ant is quite peculiar to tropical America, as is the entire genus to which it belongs. It sometimes despoils the young trees of species growing wild in its native forests; but it seems to prefer, when within reach, plants imported from other countries, such as the coffee- and orange-trees.... The heavily-laden workers, each carrying its segment of leaf vertically, the lower edge secured in its mandibles, troop up and cast their burdens on the hillock; another relay of laborers place the leaves in position, covering them with a layer of earthy granules, which are brought one by one from the soil beneath.

The underground abodes of this wonderful ant are known to be very extensive. The Rev. Hamlet Clark has related that the Sauba of Rio de Janeiro, a species closely allied to ours, has excavated a tunnel under the bed of the river Parahyba at a place where it is as broad as the Thames at London Bridge. At the Magoary rice-mills, near Para, these ants once pierced the embankment of a large reservoir; the great body of water which it contained escaped before the damage could be repaired.

In the Botanic Gardens at Para an enterprising French gardener tried all he could think of to extirpate the Sauba. With this object he made fires over some of the main entrances to their colonies, and blew the fumes of sulphur down the galleries by means of bellows. I saw the smoke issue from a great number of outlets, one of which was seventy yards distant from the place where the bellows were used. This shows how extensively the underground galleries are ramified.

Besides injuring and destroying young trees by despoiling them of their foliage, the Sauba ant is troublesome to the inhabitants from its habit of plundering the stores of provisions in houses at night, for it is even more active at night than in the daytime. At first I was inclined to discredit the stories of their entering habitations and carrying off grain by grain the farinha or mandioca meal, the bread of the poorer cla.s.ses of Brazil. At length, while residing at an Indian village on the Tapajos, I had ample proof of the fact. One night my servant woke me three or four times before sunrise by calling out that the rats were robbing the farinha baskets. The article at that time was scarce and dear. I got up, listened, and found the noise very unlike that made by rats. So I took the light and went into the store-room, which was close to my sleeping-place. I there found a broad column of Sauba ants, consisting of thousands of individuals, as busy as possible, pa.s.sing to and fro between the door and my precious baskets. Most of those pa.s.sing outward were laden each with a grain of farinha, which was, in some cases, larger and many times heavier than the bodies of the carriers.

Farinha consists of grains of similar size and appearance to the tapioca of our shops; both are products of the same root, tapioca being the pure starch, and farinha the starch mixed with woody fibre, the latter ingredient giving it a yellowish color. It was amusing to see some of the dwarfs, the smallest members of their family, staggering along, completely hidden under their load. The baskets, which were on a high table, were entirely covered with ants, many hundreds of whom were employed in snipping the dry leaves which served as lining. This produced the rustling sound which had at first disturbed us. My servant told me that they would carry off the whole contents of the two baskets (about two bushels) in the course of the night if they were not driven off, so we tried to exterminate them by killing them with our wooden clogs. It was impossible, however, to prevent fresh hosts coming in as fast as we killed their companions. They returned the next night, and I was then obliged to lay trains of gun-powder along their line and blow them up. This, repeated many times, at last seemed to intimidate them, for we were free from their visits during the remainder of my residence at the place.

What they did with the hard dry grains of mandioca I was never able to ascertain, and cannot even conjecture. The meal contains no gluten, and therefore would be useless as cement. It contains only a small relative portion of starch, and, when mixed with water, it separates and falls away like so much earthy matter. It may serve as food for the subterranean workers. But the young or larvae of ants are usually fed by juices secreted by the worker-nurses.

[Leaving the ants with this example of their curious habits, we shall proceed with the author's description of Brazilian monkeys.]

I have already mentioned that monkeys were rare in the immediate vicinity of Para. I met with three species only in the forest near the city; they are shy animals and avoid the neighborhood of towns, where they are subject to much persecution by the inhabitants, who kill them for food. The only kind which I saw frequently was the little _Midas ursulus_, one of the Marmosets, a family peculiar to tropical America, and differing in many essential points of structure and habits from all other apes. They are small in size, and more like squirrels than true monkeys in their manner of climbing. The nails, except those of the hind thumbs, are long and claw-shaped like those of squirrels, and the thumbs of the fore extremities, or hands, are not opposable to the other fingers. I do not mean to convey that they have a near relationship to squirrels, which belong to the Rodents, an inferior order of mammals; their resemblance to those animals is merely a superficial one. They have two molar teeth less in each jaw than the Cebidae, the other family of American monkeys; they agree with them, however, in the sideway position of the nostrils, a character which distinguishes both from all the monkeys of the Old World. The body is long and slender, clothed with soft hairs, and the tail, which is nearly twice the length of the trunk, is not prehensile. The hind limbs are much larger in volume than the anterior pair.

The _Midas ursulus_ is never seen in large flocks; three or four is the greatest number observed together. It seems to be less afraid of the neighborhood of man than any other monkey. I sometimes saw it in the woods which border the suburban streets, and once I espied two individuals in a thicket behind the English consul's house at Nazareth.

Its mode of progression along the main boughs of the lofty trees is like that of squirrels; it does not ascend to the slender branches, or take those wonderful flying leaps which the Cebidae do, whose prehensile tails and flexible hands fit them for such headlong travelling. It confines itself to the larger boughs and trunks of trees, the long nails being of great a.s.sistance to the creature, enabling it to cling securely to the bark; and it is often seen pa.s.sing rapidly round the perpendicular cylindrical trunks. It is a quick, restless, timid little creature, and has a great share of curiosity, for when a person pa.s.ses by under the trees along which a flock is running, they always stop for a few moments to have a stare at the intruder.

In Para _Midas ursulus_ is often seen in a tame state in the houses of the inhabitants. When full grown it is about nine inches long, independently of the tail, which measures fifteen inches. The fur is thick, and black in color, with the exception of a reddish-brown streak down the middle of the back. When first taken, or when kept tied up, it is very timid and irritable. It will not allow itself to be approached, but keeps retreating backward when any one attempts to coax it. It is always in a querulous humor, uttering a twittering, complaining noise; its dark, watchful eyes, expressive of distrust, observant of every movement which takes place near it. When treated kindly, however, as it generally is in the houses of the natives, it becomes very tame and familiar. I once saw one as playful as a kitten, running about the house after the negro children, who fondled it to their hearts' content. It acted somewhat differently towards strangers, and seemed not to like them to sit in the hammock which was slung in the room, leaping up, trying to bite, and otherwise annoying them.

It is generally fed on sweet fruits, such as the banana, but it is also fond of insects, especially soft-bodied spiders and gra.s.shoppers, which it will snap up with eagerness when within reach. The expression of countenance in these small monkeys is intelligent and pleasing. This is partly owing to the open facial angle, which is given as one of sixty degrees; but the quick movements of the head, and the way they have of inclining it to one side when their curiosity is excited, contribute very much to give them a knowing expression. Anatomists who have dissected species of Midas tell us that the brain is of a very low type as far as the absence of convolutions goes, the surface being as smooth as that of a squirrel's. I should conclude at once that this character is an unsafe guide in judging of the mental qualities of these animals; in mobility of expression of countenance, intelligence, and general manners these small monkeys resemble the higher apes far more than they do any rodent animal with which I am acquainted.

On the upper Amazon I once saw a tame individual of the _Midas leoninus_, a species first described by Humboldt, which was still more playful and intelligent than the one just described. This rare and beautiful little monkey is only seven inches in length, exclusive of the tail. It is named leoninus on account of the long brown mane which depends from the neck, and which gives it very much the appearance of a diminutive lion. In the house where it was kept it was familiar with every one; its greatest pleasure seemed to be to climb about the bodies of different persons who entered. The first time I went in, it ran across the room straightway to the chair on which I sat down and climbed up to my shoulder; arrived there, it turned round and looked into my face, showing its little teeth, and chattering, as though it would say, "Well, and how do you do?" It showed more affection towards its master than towards strangers, and would climb up to his head a dozen times in the course of an hour, making a great show every time of searching there for certain animalcula.

Isidore Geoffrey St. Hilaire relates of a species of this genus that it distinguished between different objects depicted on an engraving. M.

Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat and a wasp; at these it became much terrified; whereas at the sight of a figure of a gra.s.shopper or beetle it precipitated itself on the picture, as if to seize the objects there represented.

Although monkeys are now rare in a wild state near Para, a great number may be seen semi-domesticated in the city. The Brazilians are fond of pet animals. Monkeys, however, have not been known to breed in captivity in this country. I counted in a short time thirteen different species while walking about the Para streets, either at the doors or windows of houses, or in the native canoes. Two of them I did not meet with afterwards in any other part of the country. One of these was the well-known _Hapale jacchus_, a little creature resembling a kitten, banded with black and gray all over the body and tail, and having a fringe of long white hairs surrounding the ears. It was seated on the shoulder of a young mulatto girl, as she was walking along the street, and I was told had been captured in the island of Marajo. The other was a species of Cebus, with a remarkably large head. It had ruddy brown fur, paler on the face, but presenting a blackish tuft on the top of the forehead....

The only monkeys I observed at Cameta were the Couxio (_Pithecia satanas_), a large species, clothed with long brownish black hair, and the tiny _Midas argentatus_. The Couxio has a thick bushy tail; the hair of the head sits on it like a cap, and looks as if it had been carefully combed. It inhabits only the most retired parts of the forest, on the terra firma, and I observed nothing of its habits. The little _Midas argentatus_ is one of the rarest of the American monkeys. I have not heard of its being found anywhere except near Cameta. I once saw three individuals together running along a branch in a cacao grove near Cameta; they looked like white kittens: in their motions they resembled precisely the _Midas ursulus_ already described.

I saw afterwards a pet animal of this species, and heard that there were many so kept, and that they were esteemed as choice treasures. The one I saw was full grown, but it measured only seven inches in length of body.

It was covered with long white, silky hairs, the tail was blackish, and the face nearly naked and flesh-colored. It was a most timid and sensitive little thing. The woman who owned it carried it constantly in her bosom, and no money would induce her to part with her pet. She called it Mico. It fed from her mouth and allowed her to fondle it freely, but the nervous little creature would not permit strangers to touch it. If any one attempted to do so it shrank back, the whole body trembling with fear, and its teeth chattered, while it uttered its tremulous frightened tones. The expression of its features was like that of its more robust brother _Midas ursulus_; the eyes, which were black, were full of curiosity and mistrust, and it always kept them fixed on the person who attempted to advance towards it.

In the orange groves and other parts humming-birds were plentiful, but I did not notice more than three species. I saw a little pigmy belonging to the genus Phaethornis one day in the act of washing itself in a brook.

It was perched on a thin branch, whose end was under water. It dipped itself, then fluttered its wings and pruned its feathers, and seemed thoroughly to enjoy itself alone in the shady nook which it had chosen,--a place overshadowed by broad leaves of ferns and Heliconiae. I thought as I watched it that there was no need for poets to invent elves and gnomes while nature furnishes us with such marvellous little sprites ready to hand.

THE MONARCHS OF THE ANDES.

JAMES ORTON.

[The story of the Andes and the great river to which this mountain-chain gives birth has never been better told than in Orton's "The Andes and the Amazon," from which we select the following description of Chimborazo and its mountain neighbors.

James Orton, born at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1830, became a Congregationalist clergyman, and in 1867 headed an exploring expedition to South America. In 1873 he sought that continent again, and died on Lake t.i.ticaca, September 24, 1877.]

Coming up from Peru through the cinchona forests of Loja, and over the barren hills of a.s.suay, the traveller reaches Riobamba seated on the threshold of magnificence,--like Damascus, an oasis in a sandy plain, but, unlike the Queen of the East, surrounded with a splendid retinue of snowy peaks that look like icebergs floating in a sea of clouds.