168 N A R R A T I V E OF AN
eH ap. not to omit,, which is very remarkable, viz., that one
— .morning I faw from my: barge- a monkey of this, kind
come down to the water’s edge; rinfing his month, and
appearing to clean his ' teeth with one . of his: fingers t he
was firft difcpvered by one of the flaves; who pointed him
QOt to. my great amufement. .
Here I fhall end the. fubj eft for the prefent, after addin
g that the aboVe animals.are*fociahle,:andifhat .they
are very tenacious of life,, a s i have.ffiewn; It is almoft
fuperfluous to mention, that the ufual.diftin&ionbetweem,
what are called^ monkles..ahdI apgs^nconfifts.-iii, this,., that
the firft have all,tails, of which the latter .are klivefted;
but never having met with in Guiana ;any of the! laker
defcription, I believe them more^to be th^Mhabitafntsjof
Afiarand Africa, than of the part of the new Worldudifi-.
tinguiftied hyihe, name of .South Amerifca/ The monkies
are often mifchievous near the plantations,* where;they
commit depredations on the fagar-canes,. 8cc. -yeti of this
I but one time have been a witnefs.
As I am fpeaking of the animals found in this part of &
the country, I muft not omit the otters here, called ta-
vous, which a in the Cormoetibo Creek frequently atiradt-
ed our attention by their difagreeable noife : .as they are
amphibious, they live moftjy on fifh ; they . are about
three feet in length,| grey-cpjoured, and all oyef.fpotted
with white; their legs are fhort; they are web-footed,
and armed with five claws ; the head is round, tlie nofe
befet with whilkers like a cat; th.e eyes, are fmall, and
placed
E X P E D I T I O N TO SURINAM. 169
placed above thenars; the tailfeyeryfhort. .This ani- CHAP,
mal'mdves aukWardly upon land, but in the rivers pro- VUt
deeds with great velocity. In Guiana it is faid there is
another/Ipecies of otters which are much larger, but
thefe I never law.
Nbtwithftafiding the favourable appearances of the
preceding day, I was, on the 24th, exceedingly ill in-
deed, not being.'able to . fit up in my hammock, under
which the blacfe bby Quaco now fey,> crying for his master,
and on the following day, the poor lad himfelf fell
iic k ; at the. fame time I was- alfp obliged to fend three
men in a fever to.'Devil’s Harwar. As misfortunes often
croud together, I received, at this fatal period, the melancholy
account that the officer, Mr.-p.wen,. was alfo
dead, having expired on, his; paffage downwards at the
eftate Alica, where hewas buried. . M y enfign, Mr.
Cbtteubufgh, "who had fince: gque; to Paramaribo, died
n e x t; and for myfelf no better was now to be expedted,
In the height of a burning fever I now lay, forfaken by
all my officers and men, without- a friend to comfort
rand without.affiftance £>ftm yjkmd^pxcepjf wj^t the
poor remaining negro flaves could afford me, by-boiling,
alittlei water to make feme tea. In this, fituation.,the
reader may judge of the confolation. which, was afforded
me, the very evening when thefe accumulated misfortunes
feemed to threaten our extinction, by the receipt of
an order from the Colonel, to come down with both the
barges to Devil’s Harwar, where I was again to take poft
Vol. I, 2 on