CHAPTER XI 



MAMMALIA. 



THE SAVAGE INHABITANTS OF THE AMAZONIAN VALLEY. 



[ILL of animal life as are the forests of South America, 

 the number of species of what are generally caJled 

 wild beasts is remarkably small. Four only are cap- 



able of attacking man — the jaguar, the puma, the great ant- 

 eater, and the savage little peccary, with its lancet-like tusks. 

 The first only is universally dreaded ; the puma flies when 

 bravely confronted ; the great ant-eater is not dangerous, 

 except to those who get within its reach ; and the peccary is 

 dreaded chiefly when hunting in a pack, as it does, like the 

 wolf The burly tapir, the largest animal of the continent — 

 though a hippopotamus would look at it with contempt — is 

 perfectly harmless ; and, with the exception of a few species of 

 tiger-cats, nearly all the other Mammalia are rodents, or belong 

 to the order Quadrumana. The latter are by far the most 

 numerous inhabitants of its wide-extendini]: forests. It is 

 especially the country of monkeys, wliere they have arrived 

 at their highest development. Several of the species are not 

 only furnished with four liands, but they have tails which 



