The Forest Exiles: The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

  THE MARIMONDAS.

  That day they made good progress, having dropped down the river adistance of fifty miles at least. They might even have gone farther,but a good camping-place offered, and they did not like to pass it, asthey might not find another so convenient. It was a muddy bank, orrather a promontory that ran out into the river, and was entirelywithout trees, or any other vegetation, as it was annually overflowed,and formed, in fact, part of the bed of the river. At this time the mudwas quite dry and smooth, and appeared as if it had been paddled andbeaten down by the feet of animals and birds. This was, in fact, thecase, for the point was a favourite resting-place for the "chiguires,"or "capivaras," on their passage to and from the water. There weretracks of tapirs, too, and peccaries, and many sorts of wading birds,that had been there while the mud was still soft.

  There were no trees to which to hang their hammocks, but the ground wassmooth and dry, and they could sleep well enough upon it. They wouldnot be troubled with the bats, as these creatures keep mostly in thedark shadowy places of the forest; and snakes would not likely be foundout on the bare ground. They thought they would there be safer fromjaguars, too. In fact, it was from these considerations that they hadchosen the place for their camp. They could go to the woods for anarmful or two of sticks to cook supper with, and that would suffice.

  The balza was brought close in on the upper side of the promontory, soas to be out of the current; and then all landed and made theirpreparations for passing the night. Guapo marched off with his axe toget some firewood, and Leon accompanied him to assist in carrying it.They had not far to go--only a hundred yards or so, for up at the end ofthe promontory the forest began, and there were both large trees andunderwood.

  As they walked forward one species of trees caught their attention.They were palm-trees, but of a sort they had not yet met with. Theywere very tall, with a thick, globe-shaped head of pinnate, plume-likeleaves. But what rendered these trees peculiar was the stem. It wasslender in proportion to the height of the tree, and was thickly coveredwith long needle-shaped spines, not growing irregularly, but set inbands, or rings, around the tree. This new palm was the "pupunha," or"peach-palm," as it is called, from the resemblance which its fruitsbear to peaches. It is also named "pirijao" in other parts of SouthAmerica, and it belongs to the genus "_Gullielma_."

  At the tops of these trees, under the great globe of leaves, Guapo andLeon perceived the nuts. They were hanging in clusters, as grapes grow;but the fruits were as large as apricots, of an oval, triangular shape,and of a beautiful reddish yellow colour. That they were deliciouseating, either roasted or boiled, Guapo well knew; and he was determinedthat some of them should be served at supper. But how were they to bereached? No man could climb such a tree as they grew upon! The needleswould have torn the flesh from any one who should have attempted it.

  Guapo knew this. He knew, moreover, that the Indians, who are very fondof the fruit of this tree,--so much so that they plant large _palmares_of it around their villages--have a way of climbing it to get at theripe clusters. They tie cross pieces of wood from one tree to theother, and thus make a sort of step-ladder, by which they ascend to thefruit. It is true, they might easily cut down the trees, as the trunksare not very thick; but that would be killing the goose that gave thegolden eggs. Guapo, however, had no farther interest in this wildorchard than to make it serve his turn for that one night; so, layinghis axe to one of the "pupunhas," he soon levelled its majestic stem tothe ground. Nothing more remained than to lop off the clusters, any oneof which was as much as Leon could lift from the ground. Guapo foundthe wood hard enough even in its green state, but when old it becomesblack, and is then so hard that it will turn the edge of an axe. Thereis, perhaps, no wood in all South America harder than that of thepirijao palm.

  It is with the needle-like spines of this species that many tribes ofIndians puncture their skins in tattooing themselves, and other uses aremade by them of different parts of this noble tree. The macaws,parrots, and other fruit-eating birds, are fonder of the nuts of thepupunha than perhaps any other species; and so, too, would be thefruit-eating quadrupeds if they could get at them. But the thorny trunkrenders them quite inaccessible to all creatures without wings,excepting man himself. No; there is one other exception, and that is acreature closely allied to man, I mean the _monkey_. Notwithstandingthe thorny stem, which even man cannot scale without a contrivance;notwithstanding the apparently inaccessible clusters--inaccessible fromtheir great height--there is a species of monkey that manages now andthen to get a meal of them. How do these monkeys manage it? Not byclimbing the stem, for the thorns are too sharp even for them. Howthen? Do the nuts fall to the ground and allow the monkeys to gatherthem? No. This is not the case. How then? We shall see!

  Guapo and Leon had returned to the camp, taking with them the pupunhafruit and the firewood. A fire was kindled, the cooking-pot hung overit on a tripod, and they all sat around to wait for its boiling.

  While thus seated, an unusual noise reached their ears coming from thewoods. There were parrots and macaws among the palms making noiseenough, and fluttering about, but it was not these. The noise that hadarrested the attention of our travellers was a mixture of screaming, andchattering, and howling, and barking, as if there were fifty sorts ofcreatures at the making of it. The bushes, too, were heard "switchingabout," and now and then a dead branch would crack, as if snappedsuddenly. To a stranger in these woods such a blending of sounds wouldhave appeared very mysterious and inexplicable. Not so to our party.They knew it was only a troop of monkeys passing along upon one of theirjourneys. From their peculiar cries, Guapo knew what kind of monkeysthey were.

  "_Marimondas_," he said.

  The marimondas are not true "howlers," although they are of the sametribe as the "howling monkeys" (_Stentor_). They belong to the genus_Ateles_, so called because they want the thumb, and are therefore_imperfect_ or _unfinished_ as regards the hands. But what the ateleswant in hands is supplied by another member--the tail, and this theyhave to all perfection. It is to them a fifth hand, and apparently moreuseful than the other four. It assists them very materially intravelling through the tree-tops. They use it to bring objects nearerthem. They use it to suspend themselves in a state of repose, and thussuspended, they sleep--nay more, thus suspended, they often die! Of allthe monkey tribe the ateles are those that have most prehensile power intheir tails.

  There are several species of them known--the coaita, the white-faced,the black cayou, the beelzebub, the chamek, the black-handed, and themarimonda. The habits of all are very similar, though the speciesdiffer in size and colour.

  The marimonda is one of the largest of South American monkeys, beingabout three feet standing upon its hind-legs, with a tail of immenselength, thick and strong near the root, and tapering to a point. On itsunder side, for the last foot or so from the end, there is no hair, buta callous skin, and this is the part used for holding on to thebranches. The marimonda is far from being a handsome monkey. Its long,thin arms and thumb-less hands give it an attenuated appearance, whichis not relieved by the immense disproportioned tail. It is reddish, orof a parched coffee colour, on the upper part of the body, which becomesblanched on the throat, belly, and insides of the thighs. Its colour,in fact, is somewhat of the hue of the half-blood Indian and Negro,--hence the marimonda is known in some parts of Spanish America by thename of "mono zambo," or "zambo" monkey--a "zambo" being the descendantof Indian and Negro parents.

  The noise made by the marimondas which had been heard by our partyseemed to proceed from the bank of the river, some distance above thepromontory; but it was evidently growing louder every minute, and theyjudged that the monkeys were approaching.

  In a few minutes they appeared in sight, passing along the upper part ofa grove of trees that stood close to the water. Our travellers had nowan excellent view of them, and they sat watching them with interest.Their mode of progr
ession was extremely curious. They never came to theground, but where the branches interlocked they ran from one to theother with the lightning speed of squirrels, or, indeed, like birds uponthe wing. Sometimes, however, the boughs stood far apart. Then themarimonda, running out as far as the branch would bear him, would warp afew inches of his tail around it and spring off into the air. In thespring he would give himself such an impetus as would cause the branchto revolve, and his body following this circular motion, with the longthin arms thrown out in front, he would grasp the first branch that hecould reach. This, of course, would land him on a new tree, and overthat he would soon spring to the next.

  Among the troop several females were perceived with their young. Thelatter were carried on the backs of the mothers, where they held on bymeans of their own little tails, feeling perfectly secure. Sometimesthe mothers would dismount them, and cause them to swing themselves frombranch to branch, going before to show them the way. This was witnessedrepeatedly. In other places, where the intervening space was too widefor the females with their young to pass over, the males could be seenbending down a branch of the opposite tree, so as to bring it nearer,and assist them in crossing. All these movements were performed amidsta constant gabble of conversation, and shouting, and chattering, and thenoise of branches springing back to their places.

  The grove through which the troop was passing ended just by the edge ofthe promontory. The palm-trees succeeded, with some trees of large sizethat grew over them.

  The marimondas at length reached the margin of the grove, and then theywere all seen to stop, most of them throwing themselves, heads down, andhanging only by their tails. This is the position in which they findthemselves best prepared for any immediate action; and it is into thisattitude they throw themselves when suddenly alarmed. They remained sofor some minutes; and from the chattering carried on among them, it wasevident that they were engaged in deliberation. A loud and generalscream proclaimed the result; and all of them, at one and the sameinstant, dropped down to the ground, and were seen crossing over amongthe palm-trees.

  They had to pass over a piece of open ground with only some weeds uponit; but their helplessness on the ground was at once apparent. Theycould not place their palms on the surface, but doubled them up andwalked, as it were, on the backs of their hands in the most awkwardmanner. Every now and again, they flung out their great tails, in hopesof grasping something that would help them along; and even a large weedwas a welcome support to them. On the ground they were evidently "outof their element." In fact, the _ateles_ rarely descend from the trees,which are their natural _habitat_.

  At length they reached the palms; and, seated in various attitudes,looked up at the tempting fruit, all the while chattering away. Howwere they to reach it? Not a tree that was not covered with longneedles--not a bunch of the luscious fruit that was not far above theheight of the tallest marimonda! How were they to get at it?--that wasthe question. It might have been a puzzling question to so many boys--to the monkeys it was not; for in less than a score of seconds they hadsettled it in their minds how the pupunhas were to be plucked.

  Rising high over the palms grew a large tree, with long out-reachingbranches. It was the "zamang" tree--a species of _mimosa_, and one ofthe most beautiful trees of South America. Its trunk rose full seventyfeet without a branch; and then it spread out in every direction innumerous horizontal limbs, that forked and forked again until theybecame slender boughs. Those branches were clad with the delicatepinnate leaves that characterise the family of the mimosas.

  Many of the pupunha palms grew under the shadow of this zamang, but notthe tallest ones. These were farther out. There were some, however,whose tufted crowns reached within a few yards of the lower limbs of themimosa.

  The monkeys, after a short consultation, were seen scampering up thezamang. Only some of the old and strong ones went--the rest remainedwatching below.

  From the earnestness of their looks it was evident they felt a livelyinterest in the result. So, too, did the party of travellers; for thesewatched so closely, that the pot was in danger of boiling over.

  The marimondas, having climbed the trunk, ran out upon the lowermostlimbs, until they were directly above the palms. Then one or two wereseen to drop off, and hang down by their tails. But, although, withtheir fore-arms at full stretch, they hung nearly five feet from thebranch, they could not even touch the highest fronds of the palms, muchless the fruit-clusters that were ten or twelve feet farther down. Theymade repeated attempts; suspending themselves over the very tallestpalms, but all to no purpose.

  One would have supposed they would have given it up as a bad job. Sothought Dona Isidora, Leon, and the little Leona. Don Pablo knew betterby his reading, and Guapo by his experience. Whey they saw that no oneof them could reach the nuts, several were seen to get together on oneof the branches. After a moment one dropped down head-foremost asbefore, and hung at his full length. Another ran down the body of thisone, and taking a turn of his tail round his neck and fore-arm, skippedoff and also hung head downwards. A third joined himself on to thesecond in a similar manner, and then a fourth. The fore-arms of thefourth rested upon the fruit-cluster of the pupunha!

  The chain was now long enough for the purpose. In a few minutes thelast monkey on the chain, with his teeth and hands, had separated thefoot-stalk of the spathes, and the great clusters--two of them therewere--fell heavily to the bottom of the tree. The marimondas on theground ran forward; and, in the midst of loud rejoicings, began to pulloff the "peaches" and devour them. But the monkeys above did not ceasetheir labours. There were many mouths to feed, and they wanted morenuts. Without changing their position, they, by means of their arms andlegs, threw themselves into a vibrating motion, and by this means thelast on the string soon seized upon another pupunha, and also detachedits fruit. In this way they continued, until they had stripped everytree within their reach; when, judging they had got enough, thelowermost monkey _climbed back upon himself_, then up his companions tothe branch, and in the same style was followed by the other three insuccession. As soon as they were clear of one another, the whole partytame down by the trunk to the ground, and joined their comrades below inthe luxurious repast.