86 VIEWS OF NATURE. 



Huancaya is probably the reason why the skulls, and even 

 whole mummies, of these animals are sometimes found in the 

 Huacas, or Peruvian graves of the most ancient period. Von 

 Tschudi, the author of an admirable treatise on the Fauna 

 Peruana, has examined these skulls, and believes them to 

 belong to a peculiar species, which he calls Canis ingce, and 

 which is different from the European dog. The Huancas 

 are still, in derision, called '•' dog- eaters" by the inhabitants of 

 other provinces. Among the natives of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains of North America, cooked dog's flesh is placed before 

 the stranger guest, as a feast of honour. Captain Fremont 

 was present at such a dog-feast in the neighbourhood of Fort 

 Laramie, which is one of the stations of the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany for trading in skins and peltries with the Sioux Indians.* 

 The Peruvian dogs were made to play a singular part during 

 eclipses of the moon, being beaten as long as the darkness 

 continued. The Mexican Techichi, a variety of the common 

 dog, which was called in Anahuac Chichi, was the only com- 

 pletely dumb dog. The literal signification of the word 

 Techichi is " stone-dog," from the Aztec, tetl, a stone. This 

 dog was eaten according to the ancient Chinese custom, and 

 the Spaniards found this food so indispensable before the 

 introduction of horned cattle, that the race was gradually 

 almost entirely extirpated.f Buffon confounds the Techichi 

 with the Koupara of Guiana,^ which is, however, identical 

 with the Procyon or Ursus cancrivorus, the Raton crabier, or 

 the crab-eating Aguara-guaza of the coasts of Patagonia. § 

 Linnaeus, on the other hand, confounds the dumb dog with 

 the Mexican Itzcuintepotzotli, a canine species which has not 

 hitherto been perfectly described, and which is said to be 

 characterised by a short tail, a very small head, and a large 

 hump on the back. The name signifies a hump-backed dog, 

 and is derived from the Aztec itzcuintli, another word for dog, 

 and tepotzotli, humped or a humpback. I was much struck 

 in America, especially in Quito and Peru, with the great num- 

 ber of black hairless dogs. They are termed Chiens tares 

 by Buffon, and are the Canis cegyptius of Linnoeus. This 

 species is common amongst the Indians, who, however, 



* Fremont's Exploring Expedition, 1845, p. 42. 



+ Clavigero, Storia antica del Messico, 1780, t. i. p. 73. 



X Buffon, t. xv., p. 155. 



§ Azara, Sur les Quadruples du Paraguay, t. i. p. 315. 



