The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-25

own grub. 1 fingered two days in Campo
cha and then struck off to the south, final
ly locating between Guatemala and the
state of Campecha. What a country! Veg
citation is profuse and everything is as
nature made it. No man has tried to i'm
prove-he couldn't if he wanted to. The
big trees with their variegated foliage, fam
tastic wild flowers growing everywhere
the gayly plumaged birds and the climate
with its soft air and balmy breezes makes
one involuntarily halt and thank God he
lives to enjoy life. Fancy, if you can,
great forests of that precious wood, ebony
The natives sell it for railroad
ties and burn it in their stoves
We pitched our camp the first
day in the most beautiful spot l
ever saw. 1t was beside a crystal spring
in natural clearing. Around US were the
tall trees, and far away in the distance
the crest of the Sierra Madres. There was
chattering going on short distance
from my tent, and 1 grabbed my gun to
investigate. There at the top of a cactus
which the Mexicans call petayo, l saw a
big spider monkey Juggling away at a
sort of apple that grew at the very tip of
the plant. He had it after awhile, and
then descended to the ground with the
skill of a sword walker How he ever did
1t without prlcking his feet l cannot tell,
for the plant was covered with stout spurs
as sharp as needle. When he saw me
away he went up a neighboring tree, and
through the trees he went faster than any
horse l ever saw run. He would swing
by his tail, then catch with his front feet,
and then with his hind ones, until before
I could think to shoot he was out of
sight. l was in the monkey country, and
from that day my stay in Mexico became
interesting. Here was a new kind of
game; and all the startegy had learnt
on the plains counted for naught here. A
few centipedes attracted by the campfire
and one or two tarantulas We're the only
visitors we had
THE next morning we started to work.
was awakened with the light by the most
outrageous noise / ever heard. Why,
dozen putting steam engines would have
been sweet music compared with what l
heard when 1 opened my eyes. Screeching
in all keys come from the woods behind
the camp. The parrots had started the
morning anthem. After a hurried break
fast of dried beef and bread, with a cup of
strong Mexican coffee to wash it down.
we started. My, what sight. Thousands
of pretty polls were in the tree tops
screening. l wanted to know how we
were going to catch them. My head man
replied in Mexican that we could not catch
those birds. AS he said this two big fell
lows dropped to the ground before us and
had fight that would have put a bulldog
to shame. / ran forward to catch them,
when the Mexican called out stop. He
added, the ferocious little fellows would
nip a piece out of me before 1 thought
and besides they would not live. AS I look
ed closer 1 saw several varities Of parrots
but only thought Of the double yellow
heads. They were the best takers l had
heard and that was the only variety 1
wanted. But it was the nestlings that were
desirable, and we pushed further into
the interior to find the nests.
1T was not much trouble after we had
located them. The men climbed up the
trees and robbed the nests with as much
satisfaction as a small boy. The young
are taken before their eyes are scarcely
open and fed on dough. This makes them
easily tractable and they are seldom
fierce While some claim the African gray
is more intelligent, ] do not agree with
them. The yellow head when properly
trained can talk and sing as well as some
people. The Carthegena Is another good
variety found in Mexico. Parrots need
constant attention, for sudden draughts
are death TO them. Ordinarily they live
to be 50 or Is years of age.
eve completed our parrot list early In
the fall and then bent our energies 10
monkeys. Here again the generally ac-
cepted idea of how monkeys are captured
Is wrong. Monkeys are taken when they
are young, and never when they are over
six month old. In the first place, mon
KEYS that can run about are very hard to
catch, and in the second place, they are
subject to consumption, and close con-
Anement puts an end to them In short or
der
"These spider monkeys are the most id
lotto animals / ever saw. They haven't
got sense enough to bite you, and are fool
ish In every other way. We catch the baby
monkeys out Of the nest Occasionally an
old mamie is caught with two or three
babies cllnging on to her. They make no
resistance whatever, and are easily train
ed We found numerous cinnamon mon
KEYS 10 the interior, and killed a number
Of painters, jaguars, and black-tailed deer.
They have the monk hog or the picarri. as
II IS sometimes called. When IL comes to
fighting they are the real thing, and a
hunter on horseback had better keep the
horse away from them, for they will cut
him down with their sharp teeth.
eve only had one accident and that was
a peculiar one IL was while we were
catching parrots. A man named Jose was
climbing tree, when we were startled to
hear him cry out In pain and then saw
him Jump twenty feet TO the ground we
ran up TO him and found he had broken his
arm But his face. hands and neck were
red and blistered. He had climbed into a
nest Of tree ants, and they had made an
attack on him. Next year ] am going TO
ne out an expedition and bring back a
whole menagere Of wild Mexican animals.
It's a great country for everything but
poor people. and they might just as wei
are forced to lead Is worse than slavc-1.