Pioneer And Democrat

A Bridge of Monkeys.

The following curious incident is told by Capt. Reid in his "Adventures in Southern Mexico." This is the most novel way of creating a suspension bridge ever invented, and we think the Mexican monkeys are entitled to the patent:

"They are coming towards the edge; they will most likely cross by the rocks, yonder," observed Raoul.

"How—swim?" I asked. "It is a torrent here!"

"Oh, no," answered the Frenchman; "monkeys would rather go into fire than water. If they cannot leap the stream they will bridge it."

"Bridge it! and how?"

"Stop a moment, Captain—you shall see."

The half-human voices now sounded nearer, and we could perceive the animals were approaching the spot where we lay. Presently they appeared on the opposite bank, headed by an old gray-haired chieftain, and officered like so many soldiers. They were, Raoul stated, of the Comadreja, or ring-tailed tribe.

One, an aid-de-camp or chief pioneer, perhaps, ran out upon a projecting rock, and after looking across the stream, as if calculating the distance, scampered back, and appeared to communicate with the leader. This produced a movement in the troop. Commands were issued, and fatigue parties were detailed and marched to the front. Meanwhile, several of the comadreja engineers, no doubt, ran along the bank, examining the trees on both sides of the Ourago.

At length they all collected around a tall cotton wood that grew over the narrowest part of the stream, and twenty or thirty of them scampered up its trunk. On reaching a high point, the foremost, a strong fellow, ran out upon a limb, and taking several turns of his tail around it, slipped off and hung downwards. The next on the limb, also a stout one, climbed down the body of the first, and whipping his tail round the neck and arm of the latter, dropped off in his turn and hung down. The third repeated this maneuver upon the second, and the fourth upon the third, and so on until the last one upon the string rested his forepaws upon the ground.

The living chain then commenced swinging backwards and forwards like the pendulum of a clock. The motion was slight at first, but gradually increased, the lowermost monkey striking his hands violently on the earth as he passed the tangent of the oscillating curve. Several others upon the limbs above aided the movement. This continued until the monkey at the end of the chain was thrown among the branches of a tree on the opposite bank. Here, after two or three vibrations, he clutched a limb and held fast. This movement was executed adroitly, just at the culminating point of the oscillation, in order to save the intermediate links from the violence of a too sudden jerk!

The chain was now fast at both ends, forming a complete suspension bridge, over which the whole troop passed, to the number of four or five hundred, with the rapidity of thought!

It was one of the most comical sights I ever beheld, to witness the quizzical expression of countenances along that living chain.

The troop was now on the other side, but how were the animals forming the bridge to get themselves over? This was the question that suggested itself. Manifested by number one letting go his tail. But then the point d'appui on the other side was much lower down, and number one, with half a dozen of his neighbors, would be dashed against the opposite bank, or into the water.

Here, then was a problem, and we waited with some curiosity for its solution. It was soon solved. A monkey was now seen attaching his tail to the lowest on the bridge, another girded him in a similar manner, and another, and so on, until a dozen more were added to the string. These last were all powerful fellows, and running up to a high limb they lifted the bridge into a position almost horizontal. Then a scream from the last monkey of the new formation warning the tail end that all was ready; and the next moment the whole chain was swung over and landed safely on the opposite bank. The lowermost links now dropped off like a melted candle, while the higher ones leaped to the branches and came down the trunk. The whole troop then scampered off into the chapparal and disappeared!