NATIVE
BLOW-PIPES.
453
L o w e r O r i n o c o , that the capuchin and cacajao m o n k e y s (Simia chiropotes, and Simia melanocephala) place t h e m selves in a circle, and, b y striking the shell With a stone, succeed in o p e n i n g it, so as t o take o u t the triangular nuts. This operation m u s t , however, b e impossible, o n a c c o u n t o f the extreme hardness and thickness o f the pericarp. M o n k e y s may have b e e n seen rolling along the fruit o f the bertholletia, b u t t h o u g h this fruit has a small hole closed b y the upper extremity o f the columella, nature has n o t furnished m o n k e y s with the means o f o p e n i n g the ligneous pericarp, as it has o f o p e n i n g the covercle o f the lecythis, called in the missions " the covercle o f the m o n k e y s ' cocoa."* A c c o r d i n g t o the report o f several Indians, o n l y the smaller rodentia, particularly the cavies (the acuri and the lapa), by the structure o f their teeth, and the i n c o n c e i v able perseverance with which they pursue their destructive operations, succeed in perforating the fruit o f the juvia. A s soon as the triangular nuts are spread o n the g r o u n d , all the animals o f the forest, the m o n k e y s , the manaviris, the squirrels, the cavies, the parrots, and the macaws, hastily assemble to dispute the prey. They have all strength enough t o break the ligneous t e g u m e n t o f the s e e d ; they get out the kernel, and carry it to the tops o f the trees. "It is their festival a l s o , " said the Indians w h o had r e turned from the h a r v e s t ; and o n hearing their complaints of the animals, one may perceive that they think themselves alone the lawful masters o f the forest. O n e o f the f o u r canoes, which had taken the I n d i a n s to the gathering of the juvias, was filled in great part with that species o f reeds ( c a r i c e s ) , o f which the blow-tubes are made. T h e s e reeds w e r e from fifteen t o seventeen feet long, yet n o trace o f a k n o t for the insertion o f leaves and branches was perceived. They were quite straight, smooth externally, and perfectly cylindrical. These carices c o m e from the foot o f the mountains o f Yumariquin and Guanaja. They are m u c h s o u g h t after, even b e y o n d the O r i n o c o , by the name o f ‘ reeds o f Esmeralda.’ A hunter preserves the same b l o w - t u b e during his w h o l e life, and boasts o f its lightness and precision, as we boast o f the same qualities in * "La tapa del coco de monos."