WITH SCALES OR SHELLS. 



they are making their way into the earth ; but 

 such is their resistance, and so difficult is it to 

 draw them backward, that they leave their tail in 

 the hand of their pursuer, and are very well con- 

 tented to save their lives with its loss. The pur- 

 suers, sensible of this, never drag the tail with 

 all their force, but hold it while another digs the 

 ground about them ; and thus these animals are 

 taken alive. The instant the armadillo perceives 

 itself in the power of its enemies, it has but one 

 last resource, to roll itself up, and thus patiently 

 wait whatever tortures they think proper to in- 

 flict. The flesh of the smaller kinds is said to be 

 delicate eating, so that we may suppose they re- 

 ceive no mercy. For this reason they are pur- 

 sued with unceasing industry; and, although 

 they burrow very deep in the earth, there have 

 been many expedients used to force them out. 

 The hunters sometimes contrive to fill the hole 

 with smoke, which is often successful ; they at 

 other times force it by pouring in water. They 

 also bring up a small kind of dogs to the chase, 

 that quickly overtake them, if at any distance 

 from their burrow, and oblige them to roll them- 

 selves up in a ball, in which figure the hunters 

 carry them home. If, however, the armadillo be 

 near a precipice, it often escapes, by rolling itself 

 up, and then tumbling down from rock to rock, 

 without the least danger or inconvenience. They 

 are sometimes taken in snares laid for them by 

 the sides of rivers and low moist places, which 

 they particularly frequent ; and this method, in 

 general, succeeds better than any of the former, 



