The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1885-12-19
LIVING BRIDGES.
How and Why They Are Formed
by Various Animals.
A Suspension Bridge of Monkeys Alarmed
The jam of Huge Sturgeon in the
VOlga River, Russia.

at Is wonderful structure" said a
well known traveller, as he contemplated
the Brooklyn Bridge and its maze of
stays and wires for the first time, "and
impresses me somewhat differently from
the last bridge saw
1.-The one l refer to" he continued,
''was in South America, country quite
famous for the peculiar character of its
bridges. Some are made of bamboo,
tied together with reeds, and | have
crossed gulch one thousand feet deep
on a bridge made entirely of the hide of
oxen, and its vibrations were, to say the
least, uncomfortable. But the bridge I
had in mind was of a totally different
character, and was living one. Yes,
really alive. At the time" he went
on, II was travelling down towards
the mouth of the Amazon, and making
short and fre9Hent trips up the various
little streams that emptied into it, One
night, when near the village of Obidos,
we found we were obliged to anchor in
mid-stream, it being almost impossible
to retrace our steps without daylight.
We had pushed up the little stream un-
til our boat was almost high and dry in
the rich Southern vegetation, and the
trees in some places nearly touched.
The woods were filed with tropical
birds, and their notes, together with the
strange sounds of insects and reptiles,
filled the air, and made sleep almost i'm
possible; but before morning they evil
IDENTIFY exhausted their vocabularies and
fell asleep in my chair upon the deck.
How long / hay there have no recol-
lection but was awakened by violent
blow on my face; and looking up sud-
denly saw what appeared like gigan-
tic rope suspended from the trees and
moving away into the gloom. In a
moment back it came, swinging like a
great pendulum, this time passing
a-stern of the vessel; as it swung by
heard q cEattering noise and immedi-
ately saw that it was rope of living
monkeys, How many, have no con
ception, but they were suspended from
q tall palm near us that leaned over the
creek, and were endeavoring to form a
bridge by which they could cross dry.
shod, and their attempts Ger.
tainly showed them to be pos.
sessed of remarkable intelligence
Gas morning was approaching,
could soon observe their every motion.
Their plan was to have three or four o
the strongest and stoutest monkeys a
the end, Just as you have these firm
granite pillars here. These fellow
grasped the branches of the palnn will
their feet, tails and hands; then TIVE
others grasped them in the same wa,
and lowered themselves down, receiVin,
in similar manner several more ant
they in turn others, until finally a rop
or swinging column of monkeys hum
from the branch. Others now attached
were perhaps three or even four dee
and the column thirty feet long.
then hung against the trunk of the tree
but as 1t became complete, the las
monkey that was held by the others an
had his arms free, began to push agains
the tree, and so moved the living rope
little. Another push was followed b
others, until the column finally bega
to swing with long sweep, and it wa
during one of these movements that
had evidently been struck.
"But the monkeys apparently kne1
what they were doing. and seemed {
rely entirely upon the end one, who di
8 all the pushing; and every time the
gained little, the pendulum swingin
farther and farther over the water, unit
finally il went so near branch on tn
other side that the leader grasped it, an
the bridge was completed. That tn
was eminently satisfactory was evidel
from the ehattering that came all alon
the line; but there was no undue has
and as soon as the end monkey had oil
tanned a good hold two others from Il
other side crossed over quickly an
placed themselves by him to help secul
the hold Then the word was evident
given that the bridge was open, for oy,