The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-02-02
POWERFUL VOICES.
scREEcHINa MONKEYS OF SOUTH
AMERICA MAY BE FEARED.


but His stentorian Lungs Take the Place
of Sharp Claws or Piercing Teeth--A
Midnight Concert.
The strangest of ali protective endow-
ments Is certainly that of a South Ameri-
can monkey that routs its csemies by the
appalling power Of its voice. Like most
American varieties of our Darwinian cou-
sins, the mycetes stentor is poor fighter
Its claws are blunt and its teeth are no
match for the fangs of the jaglar, but the
horrible uproar Of its alarm cries protects
its assemblies against the raids of the harpy
eagle by day and the approach of the
providing giant cats by night.
A moderate degree Of business might
prove fatal habit by hetrayng the where
abouts of the 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
a distance of two English miles, and after
the voice of the mycetes was once level
oped to tho pitch that would answer their
purpose it was easy to see how the gift
could be perpetuated and improved on the
principle of natural selection-the most oh
streperous individuals lourishesl and sur
vived their less noisy relatives.
The first explorers of the Orinoco wilder
ness were not men that could he scared by
triiles They had heard the battleshout of
the Moors on the plains of Tunis, and the
warwhoop of the Caribs in the mountains
of Costa Rici, 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
iof having heard the shrieks of los de
monios-the voice Of satan and legion of
his most ablebodied assistants
About an hour after sunset the mycates
sereuades begin with sounds closely rescm
bling the shuddering groans that terminate
the solo of braying mule. A pause fol
lows, and the braying bowls recommence,
mingled with screams that become louder
and louder, till the camping traveller sits
upon his poncho and clutches his ears in
despair s;hriller yells pierce the general
uproar perhaps the voice OF young vocal
ists enjoying the triumph of "A successful
debut. The hollow groans too. become
more unearthly and more many voiced,
and after II two hours' concert that has
hanishcd sleep for miles around, the per
furinancc ends with few defiant whoops,
gradually sinking into sort of coughing
bark, but becomes lower till it dies away
WIN lut lHbiH VI tile nIs,uU With
The providing cats, too, have probably
been banished by that time to safe dis
lance, and the serenaders indulge in a nap,
Iapt, however, to be broken at any moment
! by the slightest alarm. A steathy step in
the underbrush, the mere rustic Of NOV
I ing branch sc;,res the sharp cared sentries
a warning Shrek, and pandemonium reigns
supreme for another hour
/ 'tfIbp Inpr trpp1nG 81 ri Ind nnnuuh cot-a
the Traveller Burmeister 'but not ms pro
voking rs the intermittent yells, which in.
deed take rank above all the irritating
sounds Que can imagine or describe They
pierce the ear like Ii hrass steam whistle,
and their far sounding power is aggravated
fby vicious energy of intonation that re.
minds one of tho scream of Il petulant child
trying to make itSel: us disagreeuble MS pos.
sible"
| shot bazed away into the thick of the
'Eiufernal assembly only makes matters
worse. The serenaders will scatter, but
rally agnin around vetertin stentor and
make up for lost time by screechng like
maniacs for the rest OF the night.
/ But the uproar reaches its maximum
when two wandering troops meet and in
Edulge in roaring match. The stocism OF
the very bruteS gives way on such occasions,
land tapirs, iaguGrs and spider monkeys
can he heard grunting out INTERPRETATIONS
,aBRiust the disturbers of the midnight
peace.
The vocal apparatus Of the mycetes com
! Ipr;ses three different mir sacks, resembling
the dubious enlargements of certain reeds
and Increasing the power of its whoops on
the same principle that the sound of the
: ttruInar-olce would he intensified by ronr
linz M N hollow ~ n
sciau hero, was said to he gifted with voice
equal to that of fifty ordinary men, ant
audible from one end OF the battlefield u
the other. But the battles of the ancient!
were fought ut cle!.e range, and it lnay b.
doubtful If the loudest human voice q
I modern time would carry II view kalloo L
"A distance OF more than 6.010 feet or about
~ miles, But the yclls of the mscetes c;lt
+, be heard nearly twice that far.
when the howlcr concerts were pro
itracted till after sunrise, /" says the natural
ist SHlyini, Il have sometimes tried Il
, ascertain how far the noise may be heard
: IL has taken me an hour or mere to thread
the forest underground from the time the
cry first struck my car till, guided by its rep
EDITION, stood under the tree where the ma
fimais were perchcd. ltw0uld certainly mol
he overestimating the distance to say twt
miles When the sound came across IL IL
lgoon, unhindered by trees, n Spanish league
.tahout three niles would he more like tn,
distance ut which the best yells could b,
heard. "
/ A menagerie owner who should under
take to introduce virtuosos of that specie
would probably be mobbed on the day o
his arrival in North American town
Nevertheless old males Of the very noisics
S variety are occasionally found in the wig
wans of the Orinoco Indians. Savagcs II
4 all parts OF the world are strangely indif
ferent to noises boys in the semibarbar
Gus period of their teens prefer he eXplo
sion Of a big iirecracker to Beethoven
grandest symphony, and the negro ehiet
4 ttiius of siene2ambia keep parrots for tn
pleasure Of hearing them scream, just a
/ he i,ncients admired the knife tsrinde
screech of the cicada, bnt the roars Of
II full grown myeetgs would be too nuc
! even for the nerves of II South Americas
cannibal If itdid not repay its patrons b
its talents for watchdog services
Francisco Chronicle