The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1867-04-23

ken thus by surprise and Disconnected by
double torture, the great boa unwound
his tail from its hold upon the branches
overhead and came down with ,cdRop,
overturning Dona Cardinelli, and was
struggling hard TO escape from Airline and
Moniiero when the bullets put an end to
both the tussle and his existence.
This serpent was a boa, but not con-
strictor. Neither does it bite its victims
more than is necessary to hold them secure
for purpose it has more {, tai. There is
no venom in the creatures bite. 1t strikes
its fangs into its prey, aiming always at
the head, if the victim he human or one
of the larger animals, holding firmly until
it throws forward over its own head and
thi of its captive, this elastic sheath or
hood you see drawn back in folds on the
neck. With this death cap flung over the
head, and drawn close about the throat,
entirely excluding the air. the poisonous
breath Of the monster will kill the strongest
man before he can struggle or make a
single cutlery. Travellers and natives of
the upper Amazon frequently fall victims
to this hooded serpent
Making late afternoon and early
evening ride by the bright light of full
moon, of some six leagues further along
the line .! the ancient Peruvian highway
mostly through an open, gently undulating
country, we found for the greater part of
the distance only faint traces Of the road
remaining, and nowhere during our journey
to Aya"ucho did we find any portion of it
in such state OF preservation as the valley
viaduct
About noon on the second day of our
ride, in passing sort of glade of low. wide
branching trees skirting the banks of one
of the upper branches of the Ucayae, we
discovered the base of that marvellous
tale told by travellers, of the monkeys
ingenuity in bridging with monkeys a
stream they wish to cross and find too
deep TO wade and to, rapid to swim. The
Long bows tell us that in such cases, the
monkeys congregate IN great numbers and
proceed 10 construct suspension bridge
in this wise:
Selecting point where trees grow close
to the edge of the stream on both sides,
the full'grown male monkeys ascend one
that grows nearest the water, and one of
their number suspends himself from "a
branch far out over the water, by his tail.
Then a second monkey slips down over
the first, who grasps him by the tail, and
thus they tail out and downward string
of ofmonkeys long enough to span the stream.
when they set themselves to swinging,
pendulum fashion-wider and wider at
each successive sweep, until at length
swinging out at right angles from the
perpendicular, the last monkey in the line
grasps branch of the tree on the opposite
bank, and there is a living suspension.
bridge over which all the crowd scamper,
when monkey No let's 90 his tail hold,
the string swings across hy gravity, and
the bridge having thus swung itself over,
breaks up and takes to the woods.
Now in South America, through all the
regions from Panama to about the parallel
of 3S deg. south latitude, there are some
ninety species of monkeys, several of
which have prehensile tails by which they
aie able to suspend themselves for short
time. But not monkey of them all is
able to carry by the prehensile strength Of
his tail another full grown fellow monkey.
SO that the story OF the monkey bridge is
preposterous.