NATURAL HISTORY. .311 



both external and internal. It is less coipulent, and 

 its legs are shorter. In the stomach and the intes- 

 tines there is a difference of conformation-. It has no 

 tail, and its bristles are much stronger than those of" 

 the wild boar ; and, lastly, it has, upon that part of 

 the back which borders upon the buttocks, an opening 

 from which there is discharged an ichorious humour of 

 a very disagreeable smell. The peccary is the only 

 animal which has an opening in this region of the bo- 

 dy. In the civet, the badger, and the genett, the re- 

 servoir for the perfume is situated beneath the parts 

 of generation ; and in the musk-animals we find it un- 

 der the belly. 



The peccary may be rendered a domestic animal, 

 like the hog, and has pretty much the same habits and 

 natural inclinations. It feeds upon the same aliments; 

 and its flesh, though more dry and lean than that of 

 the hog, is not unpalatable. 



Thee animals are extremely numerous in all the 

 parts of South America : they generally herd two or 

 three hundreds together, and unite, like hogs, in the 

 defence of each other : they are particularly fierce 

 when any attempt is made to rob them of their young : 

 they surround the plunderer, attack him without fear, 

 and frequently his life falls a victim to his rashness. 



In its native country, the peccary is more fond of 

 the mountainous parts, than of the low and level 

 grounds It seems to delight neither in the marshes, 

 nor the mud, like our hogs. It keeps among the 

 wqpds, where it subsists upon wild fruits, roots, and 

 vegetables. It is also an enemy to the lizard, the 

 toad, and all the serpent kinds with which the uncul- 

 tivated forests of the New Continent abound. As 

 soon as it perceives a serpent, or a viper, k at once 



