. The Andes and the Amazon :|bor across the continent of South America. given for its habit, when young, of dart-ing upon mice. Anaconda is a Ceylonese word. Howling Monkeys. 223 than the boa-constrictor which lives on the land. It hasa hideous appearance, broad in the middle, and taperingabruptly at both ends. We did not learn from the nativesthat anacondas over twenty feet long had been seen on theNapo, but specimens twice that size are found on the Ama-zon. Land boas do not often exceed fifteen feet in of the large howling monkeys often entertainedus with their terrific, uneart
. The Andes and the Amazon :|bor across the continent of South America. given for its habit, when young, of dart-ing upon mice. Anaconda is a Ceylonese word. Howling Monkeys. 223 than the boa-constrictor which lives on the land. It hasa hideous appearance, broad in the middle, and taperingabruptly at both ends. We did not learn from the nativesthat anacondas over twenty feet long had been seen on theNapo, but specimens twice that size are found on the Ama-zon. Land boas do not often exceed fifteen feet in of the large howling monkeys often entertainedus with their terrific, unearthly yells, which, in the truthfullanguage of Bates, increased tenfold the feeling of in-hospitable wildness which the forest is calculated to in-spire. They are of a maroon color (the males wear along red beard), and have under the jaw a bony goitre—an expansion of the os hyoides—by means of which theyproduce their loud, rolling noise. They set up an unusual. chorus whenever they saw us, scampering to the tops ofthe highest trees, the dams carrying the young npon theirbacks. They are the only monkeys which the natives havenot been able to tame. Vast numbers of screaming par-rots and macaws flew over our heads, always going in pairsand at a great height. Groups of gypsy-birds wereperched on the trees overhanging the river, and black 224 The Andes and the Amazon. ducks, cormorants, and white cranes floated on tlie wateror stalked along the plaias. But one form of life superabounded. From the risingof the sun to the going down tliereof clouds of ubiquitoussand-flies tilled our cabin, save when the wind was soon as the sand-flies ceased, myriads of musquitoesbegan their work of torture, without much preparatorypiping, and kept it up all night.* These pests were occa-sionally relieved or assisted by piums—minute flies thatalight unnoticed, and squatting close to the skin, suck theirfill of blood, leaving dark spots and a disagreeable
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