100 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



is identical with the Procyon, or Ursus cancrivorus, the Raton crab- 

 ier, or crab-eating Aquaraguaza of the Patagonian coast. (Azara 

 sur les quadrupedes du Paraguay, t. i. p. 315.) Linnaeus, on the 

 other hand, confounds the dumb variety of dogs with the Mexican 

 Itzcuintepotzotli, a kind of dog still only imperfectly described, said 

 to be distinguished by a short tail, a very small head, and a large 

 hump on the back. The name signifies humped-dog, and is formed 

 from the Aztec, itzcuintli (another word for dog), and tepotzotli, 

 humped, a humpback. I was particularly struck in America, and 

 especially in Quito, and generally in Peru, with the great number 

 of black dogs without hair, called by Buffon " chiens turcs" (Canis 

 segyptius, Linn.). Even among the Indians this variety is common, 

 but it is generally despised and ill-treated. All European breeds of 

 dogs perpetuate themselves very well in South America, and if the 

 dogs there are not so handsome as those in Europe, the reason is partly 

 want of care, and partly that the handsomest varieties (such as fine 

 greyhounds and the Danish spotted breed), have never been intro- 

 duced there. 



Herr von Tschudi makes the singular remark that, in the Cor- 

 dilleras, at elevations of 13,000 feet, tender races of dogs, and the 

 European domestic cat, are exposed to a particular kind of mortal 

 disease. " Innumerable attempts have been made to keep cats as 

 domestic animals in the town of the Cerro de Pasco, 13,228 French 

 (or 14,100 English) feet above the level of the sea, but such attempts 

 have failed, both cats and dogs dying at the end of a few days, in fits, 

 in which the cats were taken at first with convulsive movements, 

 then tried to climb the walls, fell back exhausted and motionless, 

 and died. In Yauli I had several opportunities of observing this 

 chorea-like disease } it seems to be a cohsequence of the absence of 

 sufficient atmospheric pressure." In the Spanish colonies, the hair- 

 less dog was looked upon as of Chinese origin, and called Perro Chi- 

 nesco, or Chino. The race was supposed to have come from Canton 

 or from Manila : according to Klaproth, it has certainly been ex- 

 tremely common in China since very early times. Among the ani- 

 mals indigenous to Mexico, there was an entirely hairless, dog-like, 

 but very large wolf, called Xoloitzcuintli (from the Mexican xolo or 



