Information respecting Zoological Travellers, 285 



out into their peculiar noisy cry, and the parents seizing the young 

 with their mouth they plunged into the water and disappeared, — and 

 having placed their young in security, we saw them shortly after 

 reappearing at the head of our canoe. They raised themselves with 

 half their body out of the water, snoring for rage and showing their 

 formidable teeth. At approaching danger or when apprehensive of 

 it, they collected in a body, deputing the most courageous in ad- 

 vance ; as our canoe came nearer, they sank under as if by a precon- 

 certed sign, and appeared the next moment within a few yards of it. 

 We saw nothing again of the young ; but the adults and larger-sized 

 young ones accompanied us, threatening and snoring, until no 

 doubt we were so far out of reach of their stronghold that they 

 considered their progeny now safe. In other instances, when we at- 

 tempted to find out their holes, they became so outrageous that they 

 bit our paddles and left the print of their teeth. The Indians know 

 nevertheless how to surprise the young ones, who are then taken 

 home alive, and become in a short time so tractable that they follow 

 their masters like dogs. I have seen them frequently in the Indian 

 cabins, where they were fed on fish, meat, and fruits. In two dif- 

 ferent instances I possessed one myself, but they both met with an 

 untimely death. The first was left at the water's edge on breaking 

 up our camp, and not missed until evening, when the distance was 

 too great to return for it ; and the second was given to the care of 

 an Indian woman from the interior, who visited the coast for the first 

 time in her life. She had been accustomed to keep the young Otter 

 in a large open basket, which she placed in the river at a short 

 distance from shore, fastening it to a stake for greater security. 

 Unacquainted with the rise of the water caused by the flood-tide, 

 she did the same at the lower Corentyn ; and we did not become 

 aware of it until our attention was attracted by her distress, when 

 she observed the water several feet above the utmost point where the 

 string would have allowed the cage of the poor Otter to float. In 

 both instances the young Otters were quite tractable and attached 

 to those who nursed them. Their cry when angry or in pain was 

 most plaintive, sometimes piercing and disagreeable. They appeared 

 to be fond of being carried into the water, and would float motion- 

 less, their head merely above the surface. 



In Colombia the hunting of the Otter forms a great amusement, 

 and is continued for a considerable period. In the month of May 

 the parties assemble, and having ascended the rivers and falls until 

 they reach the clear waters without current, they encamp. The 

 dogs which have been trained for the purpose of hunting the Otter 



