36 MALDONADO. [CHIP, in, 



hairy skirt. When in this state the meat is, of course, quite uneatable ; 

 but the Gauchos assert, that if buried for some time in fresh earth the 

 taint is removed. 1 have somewhere read that the islanders in the 

 north of Scotland treat the rank carcasses of the fish-eating birds in the 

 same manner. 



The order Rodentia is here very numerous in species : of mice alone 

 I obtained no less than eight kinds.* The largest gnawing animal in 

 the world, the Hydrochaerus capybara (the water-hog), is here also 

 common. One which I shot at Monte Video weighed ninety-eight 

 pounds : its length, from the end of the snout to the stump-like tail, 

 was three feet two inches ; and its girth three feet eight. These great 

 Rodents occasionally frequent the islands in the mouth of the Plata, 

 where the water is quite salt, but are far more abundant on the borders 

 of fresh-water lakes and rivers. Near Maldonado three or four 

 generally live together. In the daytime they either lie among the 

 aquatic plants, or openly feed on the turf plain.f When viewed at a 

 distance, from their manner of walking and colour they resemble pigs : 

 but when seated on their haunches, and attentively watching any object 

 with one eye, they reassume the appearance of their congeners, cavies 

 and rabbits. Both the front and side view of their head has quite a 

 ludicrous aspect, from the great depth of their jaw. These animals, at 

 Maldonado, were very tame; by cautiously walking, I approached 

 within three yards of four old ones. This tameness may probably be 

 accounted for, by the Jaguar having been banished for some years, and 

 by the Gaucho not thinking it worth his while to hunt them. As I 

 approached nearer and nearer they frequently made their peculiar 

 noise, which is a low abrupt grunt, not having much actual sound, but 

 rather arising from the sudden expulsion of air : the only noise I know 

 at all like it, is the first hoarse bark of a large dog. Having watched 

 the four from almost within arm's length (and they me) for several 

 minutes, they rushed into the water at full gallop with the greatest 

 impetuosity, and emitted at the same time their bark. After diving a 

 short distance they came again to the surface, but only just showed the 

 upper part of their heads. When the female is swimming in the water, 

 and has young ones, they are said to sit on her back. These animals 

 are easily killed in numbers ; but their skins are of trifling value, and 



* In South America I collected altogether twenty-seven species of mice ; 

 and thirteen more are known from the works of Azara and other authors. 

 Those collected by myself have been named and described by Mr. Water- 

 house at the meetings of the Zoological Society. I must be allowed to take 

 this opportunity of returning my cordial thanks to Mr. Waterhouse, and to 

 the other gentlemen attached to that Society, for their kind and most liberal 

 assistance on all occasions. 



j- In the stomach and duodenum of a capybara which I opened, I found a 

 very large quantity of a thin yellowish fluid, in which scarcely a fibre could 

 be distinguished. Mr. Owen informs me that a part of the oesophagus is so 

 constructed that nothing much larger than a crowquill can be passed down. 

 Certainly the broad teeth and strong jaws of this animal are well fitted to 

 grind into pulp the aquatic plants on which it feeds, 



