430 Information respecting Botanical Travellers. 



have pronounced to be the prints of dogs' feet. The Indian is better 

 acquainted with them ; they are a sure proof that a pack of Carasissi ^ 



paid the preceding night a visit to the hen-roost at the next Molocca I 



or Indian village ; and on entering it, the long faces of the squaws, 

 and their vociferous gesticulations, spoke volumes of the depreda- 

 tions which these night robbers had committed among the feathered 

 stock. 



The Carasissi or Savannah dog, as it is called by the colonists, is 

 the only animal allied to the dogs found in Guiana. It does not at- 

 tain the size of the fox, but is of a stronger make than that animal, 

 and has a shorter tail and more obtuse muzzle. In the form of the 

 head and position of the eyes, it approaches more nearly to the dogs, 

 and, in fact, appears to be intermediate between them and the foxes ; 

 and while these refuse to mix together, the Carasissi is much sought 

 after by the Indians to make a cross breed with their dogs. There 

 are few of these animals in the neighbourhood of the sea-coast, or in 

 the cultivated part of Guiana ; but on the savannahs they are found 

 hunting in large packs. They pursue their prey principally by the 

 eye, but in thick woods they follow it by the scent. During our 

 expedition up the river Berbice, some of our hunters met with a pack 

 of Carasissis ; and they succeeded in securing one alive, but not ha- 

 ving tied it sufficiently it gnawed its ropes and escaped. While we 

 sojourned in Pirara, one was shot in the act of committing depreda- 

 tions among the poultry. It measured 2 feet 2 inches from the 

 snout to the insertion of the tail, the latter being 10| inches in 

 length. The breast and belly were of a dusky white, the other parts 

 of a deep buiF colour, with the exception of the muzzle and the ears, 

 which were dark, approaching almost to black. The tail was not so 

 bushy as that of the fox, nor was it so long. They carry their ears 

 erect. 



They vie in cunning and art with the European fox, and the de- 

 predations which they commit on the hen-roosts are considerable. 

 Their favourite haunts are thickets near open savannahs, and if a 

 pack succeed in entering the village and in surprising the Indians' 

 poultry, few escape, as they completely surround the roosting-place, 

 and generally carry off their spoil before the inhabitants have any 

 idea of their presence. I have been assured by the Indians that they 

 soon run down deer, and pursue their game under full cry. They de- 

 stroy in other ways large quantities of game. 



I bought in the commencement of November a young one, which 

 I considered about three weeks old. Its fur was darker than that of 

 the adult ; we fed it on boiled yams, ripe plantains, meat, and fish. 



