The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-02-03
POWERFUL VOICES.
SCREECHlNG MONKEYS OF SOUTH
: AMERICA MAY BE FEARED.

The Mycctes Stcntor Is Poor Fighter.
but His Stcntorian Lungs Take tho Place
of Sharp Claws or Piercing Tecth-A
Midnight Concert.
The strongest of all protective endow-
mcnts is certainly that of n South Ancr;
can monkey that routs its enemies NV tbo
appalling power of its voice Like most
American varieties of our Darwinian con-
sins, tho mycctes stcntor is n poor fighter
Its claws are blunt and it's teeth nro no
match for the fnngs of the jagrar, but the
horrible uproar of its alarm cries protects
Its assemblies against the raids of the harry
eagle by day and the approach of the
proving giant cats by night.
a moderate degree of business might
prove fatal habit by betraying the where
abouts OF tho chatterer without troubling
the conscience of its pursuers, but no beast
of prey likes to have its movements her
aided by whoops that wake the echoes for
n distance OF two English miles, and after
the voice OF the mycetes was once deyel-
oped to the pitch that would answer their
purpose 1T was easy to see how the gift
could be pcrpctuated and improved on tho
principle of natural selection-thc most OBJ
streperous individuals fourished and sur
Vlved their less noisy relatives
The first explorers of the Orinoco wilder
ness were not men that could be scared bv
TRIES. They had heard the battleshout of
the Moors on the plains of Tunis, and tho
warwhoop OF the Caribs in the mountains
OF Costa RIGA, but when they ATTEMPTED to
explore the forest of Atabapo, in southern
Venezuela, they broke up their first nights
camp and retreated in the full conviction
of having heard the shrieks of los de-
monios-thc voice of satan and Il legion of
his most ablcbodied assistants.
About an hour after sunset the mycetcs
serenadcs begin with sounds closely rcscm-
bling the shuddering groans that terminate
the solo of braying mule. A pause fol-
lows, and the braying bowls recommcnce
mingled with screams that become louder
and louder, till the camping traveller sits
upon his poncho and clutches his ears in
despair. Shrller yells pierce the general
uproar; perhaps the voice of young vocal
lists enjoying the triumph of n successful
debut. The hollow groans too. become
more unearthly and more many voiced
and after II two hours concert that has
banished sleep for miles around the per-
Torrance ends with u few dpiiant whoops
gradually sinking intoa sort of coughing
bark, but becomes lower til! it dies away
with the moan of the night wind
The providing cats, too. have probably
been bnnishcd by that time to Il safe dis
lance, and the sereEadcrs indulge in a nap
apt, however, to he broken ut any moment
by the slightest alarm y >.c;.Itby steD in
the underbru,li. the mere. rustic of a. NOV.
ing branch sc;.rcs the sharp cared sentries
warning shrek. a,.l pandymouium reigns
supreme for another hour
1.-The deep grOanS are bad enough" SAYS
the Traveller liurMciSter. but not us pro-
voklng as the intermittent yells which in
deed take rank above all the irritating
sounds one can imagine or describe They
pierce the ear like Il brass steam whistle
and their far sounding power is aggravated
by vicious energy of intonation that re-
minds one of the scream of IL pctulant child
trying to make itself us disagrecable as pos
sible"
y shot hlazc,l away into the thick of the
Internal assembly only makes matters
worse. The sercnadcrs will scatter, but
rally again around II veteran stentor and
make up for lost time by scrceching like
maniacs for the rest of the night.
But the uproar reaches it's maximum
when two wandering troops meet and in
dulge i'll Il roaring match. The stoicism of
the very brutes gives way ON such occasions,
and tapirs, jaguars and spider monkeys
can be heard ltrunting out their excavations
against the disturbers of the midnight
peace.
The vocal apparatus of the mycctcs COM
priscs three different air sacks, resembling
the dubious engagements of certain reeds,
and increasing the power of it's whoops on
the same principle that the sound of the
human voice would be intensified by roar
ing into Il hollow shell. Stentor, the Gre
clan hero, was said to be gifted with voice
equal to that of fifty ordinary men, and
audible from one end of the battlefield TO
the other. But the battles of the ancients
were fought Mt close range, and it may be
doubtful if the loudest human voice of
modern time would carry view halloo to
distance Of more than 6,000 feet or about
u miles. But the yells of the mycetes can
be heard nearly twice that far.
when the bowler concerts were pro-
tracted till after SUNRISE" says the natural
ist Salvini, II have sometimes tried to
ascertain how far the noise may be heard.
1t has taken me an hour or more to thread
the forest underground from the time the
cry first struck my car till, guided by its rep
etition, stood under the tree where the an
imals were perched. Itwould certainly not
be overestimating the distance to say two
miles. When tho sound came across Ia
COON, unhindered by trees, n Spanish league
about three miles, would be more like the
distance ut which the best yells could be
heard"
A menagcrie owner who should under
take to introduce virtuosos of that species
would probably be mobbed on the day of
his arrival in n North American town.
Nevertheless old males of the very noisiest
variety are occasionally found in the wig
vans of the Orinoco Indians. Savagcs in
all parts of the world are strangely indif-
fercnt to noises; boys in the semibarbar-
GUS period of their teens prefer the explo-
sion of a big firccracker to Beethovens
grandcst symphony. and the negro chief
tains of Senegambia keep parrots for the
pleasure of hearing them scream, just as
the ancicnts admired the knife grinder
Screech of the cicadn. hut thu rnnrs of a