CHAPTER VII. 



THE MEPHITIC SKUNK. 



IT might possibly give the reader some faint con- 

 ception of the odious character of this creature (for 

 adjectives are weak to describe it) when I say that, 

 in talking to strangers from abroad, I have never 

 thought it necessary to speak of sunstroke, jaguars, 

 or the assassin's knife, but have never omitted to 

 warn them of the skunk, minutely describing its 

 habits and personal appearance. 



I knew an Englishman who, on taking a first 

 gallop across the pampas, saw one, and, quickly 

 dismounting, hurled himself bodily on to it to effect 

 its capture. Poor man! he did not know that the 

 little animal is never unwilling to be caught. Men 

 have been blinded for ever by a discharge of the 

 fiery liquid full in their faces. On a mucous mem- 

 brane it burns like sulphuric acid, say the unfortu- 

 nates who have had the experience. How does 

 nature protect the skunk itself from the injurious 

 effects of its potent fluid ? I have not unfrequently 

 found individuals stone-blind, sometimes moving 

 so briskly about that the blindness must have been 

 of long standing very possibly in some cases an 

 accidental drop discharged by the animal itself has 

 caused the loss of sight. When coming to close 



