Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Capuchin Of The
Esmeralda (Simia Chiropotes), Which So Much Resembles Man In The
Expression Of Its Physiognomy; And The Sleeping Monkey (Simia
Trivirgata), Which Is The Type Of A New Group; Had Never Yet Been Seen
On That Coast.
We destined them for the menagerie of the Jardin des
Plantes at Paris.
The arrival of a French squadron which had failed in
an attack upon Curacao furnished us, unexpectedly, with an excellent
opportunity for sending them to Guadaloupe; and General Jeannet,
together with the commissary Bresseau, agent of the executive power at
the Antilles, promised to convey them. The monkeys and birds died at
Guadaloupe but fortunately the skin of the Simia chiropotes, the only
one in Europe, was sent a few years ago to the Jardin des Plantes,
where the couxio (Simia satanas) and the stentor or alouate of the
steppes of Caracas (Simia ursina) had been already received. The
arrival of so great a number of French military officers and the
manifestation of political and religious opinions not altogether
conformable with the interests of the governments of Europe excited
singular agitation in the population of Cumana. The governor treated
the French authorities with the forms of civility consistent with the
friendly relations subsisting at that period between France and Spain.
In the streets the coloured people crowded round the agent of the
French Directory, whose dress was rich and theatrical. White men, too,
with indiscreet curiosity, whenever they could make themselves
understood, made enquiries concerning the degree of influence granted
by the republic to the colonists in the government of Guadaloupe.
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