The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1850-07-24
AN ARMY OF MONKEYS.
a snrEL susrEKsios skfpoE.


"Thsy are coming awards the bridge;
they w'll most likrly cross by he rsrks
sandrr." Observed Rsoul.
Haw-swim iii'' asked. - liisa
lonrni iRrre r
"Oh. Of" answered lie Frens hman.
moRkeys would rather % inia Gre Than
waIer. II they eannol leap ile stream.
ihry viii bridge H."
Bridge IL ! and how r.
Stop : Moment, Caplsin--ycn shall
sre." The half human ssices nov sound.
ed nesrer. and we copld perceive that the
animals were approaching The spei where
wr lay. Presently they appeared upon
The nppnsiie bank. hrssed By an old gray
rhieiiain and oiFicered like so many col.
dnIs. They were. as Rsoal stated. Of The
ccHicdrJa or rinEtailrd lrihe.
Onr-sn aid dr.csmp. or chief pioneer.
perhars-rsn out upnn protecting rock.
and. afier looking across The sirrsm AZ II
cslrulaling The distance. scamrered back
and appeared To communicate with The
leader. This p1odurei movement in .hs
roop. Commands were Issued. aud n.
iigue pariies were deisilrd and marched
TO The front. Meanwhile several oi The
eomadrrjas--engineers no doubl-ran
slcng ihe baek. examining The trees on
both sides of the arroyo.
Atlengih they all enlleried around TALL
COTTON wood. that grew over lhr narrowesl
part az the stream. and 90 or 30 of them
srampered up ils trunk. On reaching
high point, The foremosi--a strong fellow
--ran oui upon limb. and taking several
turns nf bis tail around il. slipped OF and
hung head downwards. The mex, on the
limb. alsn a sinni one. climbed down The
Indy uf the first. and Whipped his tail
tightly round The neck and forearm &c The
lalier. dropped or in his turn, and hung
heal down. The third repeated this
man9usre upon the second, and the fourth
upon the hind. and 50 on. until the lasl
one upnn the string rested his fore paws
upon the ground.
! The living chain now commenced
swinging backwards aud forwards. like
the nendulum Of a clock. The molinn
was slight al first. bn, gradually increas-
ed. the lowermosI moakey striking his
hands vlnl-nily on the earth as he pas.
sed the tangent Of the osci!laling curve.
Several others upon the limbes above aided
i the movement.
This continued until the monkey al the
end az The chain WAS thrown among the
branches Of a Tree on the opposite hank.
Here. after two or three vibrations, he
rIuichrd a limb aud held FAST. This move.
menl was executed adroily. just at The
culminaiing poin, Of The oscillation, in or
der 10 save the intermediate links from the
violence of too sudden jerk!
The chain was now fast at both ends,
forming a complete suspension bridge,
over which the whole troop. to the mum.
her of four or FIVE hundred, passed with
the rapidity Of th"nghi.
II was one OF The most romical sights
ever beheId, to witness the quizzical ex.
preston of connienances along that living
chain /!
The troop was now on the other side,
but how were the animals forming the
bridge TO gel themselves overi This was
the question which suggested itself. Man.
ifesiIy. by number one letling go his tail.
Rui then the point fappii on The other
side was much lower down, and number
one. with half-a.d dozen OF his neiphbors.
would be dashed against the opposite
hank, or soussd into The water.
Here, then, was problem, and we
waited wiii some curiosity for lis snla-
lion. Ii vas soon solved. A monkey
was now seen attaching his tail 10 the
lowest on The bridge, anoiher girded him
in similar manner, and another, and so
on, until dozen more were added to the
string. These last were all powerful fel
lows: and, running up 10 high limb. they
| lifted the bridge into position almos.
hurizontal.
Then scream from The last monkey
1 of the formation warned the tail end that
! all was ready; and the mex, moment the
whole chain was swung over, and landed
safely on The opposite banks The lower
most links now dropped OF like melting
candle, while The higher ones lesped to
the branches and came down by the trunk.
The whnle troop then scampered off into
the charparal and disappeared!
Capt. Reds Adpenfuresin South America.
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