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

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN.

  THE ARAGUATOES.

  Our party had passed several of these jacitaras, made the balza fast,landed, and were just cooking their scanty supper, when they heard aband of howling monkeys afar off in the woods. There was nothingunusual in this; for these creatures are heard at all times among theforests of the Amazon, especially at sunrise and before sunset, orwhenever there is any appearance of the approach of a rain-storm. Ourtravellers would not have noticed their voices on this occasion, butthat they seemed to be approaching in that direction; and as they werecoming along the bank of the main river, Guapo concluded that onarriving at the "igaripe," they would turn up it and pass near where thebalza was, and thus he might have them within reach of his gravatana.It was certain they were coming down the river side--of course upon thetree-tops, and would, no doubt, turn up as Guapo expected, for the treeson the opposite side of the igaripe stood too far apart even for monkeysto spring across.

  After waiting for half-an-hour or so, the hideous howling of the monkeyscould be heard at no great distance, and they were taking the desiredroute. In fact, in a few minutes after, the troop appeared upon sometall trees that stood on the edge of the creek, not fifty yards fromwhere the balza was moored. They were large animals, of that lanky andslender shape that characterises the prehensile-tailed monkeys; butthese were different from the _ateles_ already mentioned. They weretrue howlers, as they had already proved by the cries they had beenuttering for the half-hour past. There are several species of howlingmonkeys, as we have already stated. Those that had arrived on theigaripe Guapo pronounced to be _araguatoes_. Their bodies are of areddish-brown colour on the body and shoulders, lighter underneath, andtheir naked wrinkled faces are of a bluish black, and with very much ofthe expression of an old man. Their hair is full and bushy, and givesthem some resemblance to a bear, whence their occasional name of"bear-ape," and also their zoological designation, _Simia ursina_. Thearaguato is full three feet without the tail, and that powerful memberis much longer. When the band made its appearance on the igaripe, theywere seen to come to a halt, all of them gathering into a great treethat stood by the water's edge. This tree rose higher than the rest,and the most of the monkeys having climbed among the top branches, werevisible from the balza. There were about fifty in the troop, and onethat seemed larger than any of the others appeared to act as leader.Many of them were females, and there were not a few that had young ones,which they carried upon their backs just as the Indian mothers and thoseof other savage nations carry their children. Most of the littlemonkeys lay along the backs of their mothers, clasping them around theneck with their fore-arms, while their hind ones girdled the middle ofthe body. But it was in their tails the little fellows seemed to placemost reliance. The top parts of these were firmly lapped around thethick base of the tails of the old ones, and thus not only secured theirseat, but made it quite impossible for them to drop off. No force couldhave shaken them from this hold, without dragging out their tails ortearing their bodies to pieces. Indeed, it was necessary they should bethus firmly seated, as the exertions of the mothers,--their quickmotions and long springing leaps from tree to tree--would otherwise havebeen impossible.

  On reaching the bank of the igaripe, the araguatoes were evidently atfault. Their intention had been to proceed down along the main river,and the creek now interfered. Its water lay directly across theircourse, and how were they to get over it? Swim it, you may say. Ha!little do you know the dread these creatures have of water. Yes;strange to say, although many species of them pass their lives upontrees that overhang water, or even grow out of it, they are as muchafraid of the water beneath them as if it were fire. A cat is not halfso dainty about wetting her feet as some monkeys are; and besides a catcan swim, which the monkeys cannot--at best so badly that in a fewminutes they would drown. Strange, is it not, that among animals, thosethat approach nearest to man, like him are not gifted by nature with thepower of swimming? It is evident, then, that that is an art left to bediscovered by the intellect of man. To fall into the water would be asad mishap for a monkey, not only on account of the ducking, but of thedanger. There is not much likelihood of an araguato falling in. Eventhough one branch may have broken and failed it, in the great concavesphere which it can so quickly trace around it by means of its five longmembers, it is sure of finding a second. No; the araguatoes might spenda lifetime in the flooded forest without even wetting a hair fartherthan what is wetted by the rain.

  From their movements, it was evident the igaripe had puzzled them; and aconsultation was called among the branches of the tall tree alreadymentioned. Upon one of the very highest sat the large old fellow whowas evidently leader of the band. His harangue was loud and long,accompanied by many gestures of his hands, head, and tail. It was, nodoubt, exceedingly eloquent. Similar speeches delivered by other oldaraguato chiefs, have been compared to the creaking of an ungreasedbullock-cart, mingled with the rumbling of the wheels!

  Our party thought the comparison a just one. The old chief finished atlength. Up to this point not one of the others had said a word. Theyall sat silent, observing perfect decorum; indeed, much greater than isobserved in the great British Parliament or the Congress of America.Occasionally one of the children might utter a slight squeak, or throwout its hand to catch a mosquito; but in such cases a slap from the pawof the mother, or a rough shaking, soon reduced it to quiet. When thechief had ended speaking, however, no debate in either Congress orParliament could have equalled the noise that then arose. Everyaraguato seemed to have something to say, and all spoke at the sametime. If the speech of the old one was like the creaking of abullock-cart, the voices of all combined might appropriately be comparedto a whole string of these vehicles, with half the quantity of greaseand a double allowance of wheels!

  Once more the chief, by a sign, commanded silence, and the rest becamemute and motionless as before.

  This time the speech of the leader appeared to refer to the business inhand--in short, to the crossing of the igaripe. He was seen repeatedlypointing in that direction, as he spoke, and the rest followed hismotions with their eyes.