ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMEFaCA. 535 



as thofe of a rat, but the hair is longer and black. In the lower part of its belly, from 

 the beginning of the ftomach to the natural orifice of the fex, runs a fort of bag, formed 

 of two membranous fkins, which growing from the lower ribs, and joining in the mid- 

 dle, follow the conformation of the belly, which they inclofe : in the middle of it is an 

 aperture extending about two-thirds of its length, and which the creature opens and 

 fliuts at pleafure by means of mufcles, doubtlefs formed by nature for this purpofe. 

 After bringing forth her young, Ihe depofits them in this bag, and carries them as a 

 fecond pregnancy till they are fit for weaning ; fhe then relaxes the mufcles, and the 

 young come out as a fecond brood. Monfieur de Juilieu and M. Seniergues, when at 

 Quito, made an experiment, at which Don George Juan and I were both prefent. The 

 dam had been dead three days, and'began to fmell very difagreeably ; the orifice of the 

 bag remained flill fhi^t, but the young ones we found full of life within, each with a 

 teat in his mouth, from which, at the time we took them off, fome fmall drops of milk 

 came out. The jnale I never faw : but was told that it was of the fame bignefs and 

 fhape as the female, except the bag ; the tefticles of this creature are of an enormous 

 difproportion, being of the fize of a hen's egg. It is a very fierce enemy to all tame 

 birds, and does a great deal of damage in the maize fields. The Indians eat the flefli, 

 and fay it is not at all difagreeable : but few Europeans have much veneration for their 

 tafte or cookery. 



CHAP. IX. — Pbanomena obferved in the mountainous Deferts and other Parts of this 

 Province, Hunting Matches, Dexterity of the American Horfes, 



TO the before-mentioned particulars of -the mountainous deferts, I fhall fubjoin the 

 phenomena feen there, as fubjefts equally meriting the curiofity of a rational reader. / 

 firfl: we were grisatly furprifed with two, on account of their novelty ; but frequent c*'^ 

 fervations rendered them familiar. One we faw in Pambamarca on our firft afcV 

 thither ; it was a triple circular iris. At break of day the whole mountain was encc 

 paffed with very thick clouds, which the rifing of the fun difperfed fo far as to lea 

 only fome vapours of a tenuity not cognizable by the fight: on the oppofite f." 

 to that where the fun rofe, and about ten toifes diflant from the place where 

 we were flanding, we faw, as in a looking-glafs, the image of each of us, the 

 head being as it were the centre of three concentric iris's ; the laft or moft external 

 colours of one touched the firft of the following j and at fome diftance from them all, 

 was a fourth arch entirely white. Thefe were perpendicular to the horizon ; and as 

 the perfon moved, the phenomenon moved alfo in the fame difpofition and order. But 

 what was moft remarkable, though we were fix or feven together, every one faw the 

 phenomenon with regard himfelf, and not that relating to others. The diameter of the 

 arches gradually altered with the afcent of the fun above the horizon ; and the pheno- 

 menon itfelf, after continuing a long time, infenfibly vaniftied. In the beginning, the 

 diameter of the inward iris, taken from its laft colour, was about five degrees and a 

 half, and that of the white arch, which circumfcribed the others, not lefs than fixty-feven 

 degrees. At the beginning of the phenomenon, the arches feemed of an oval or ellipti- 

 tical figure, like the difk of the fun, and afterwards became perfectly circular. Each of 

 the leaft was of a red colour, bordered with an orange, and the laft followed by a bright 

 yellow, which degenerated into a ftraw colour ; and this turned to a green. But in all, 

 the external colour remained red. 



On the mountains we alfo had frequently the pleafure of feeing arches formed by the 

 light of the moon J particularly one on the 4th of April 1738, about eight at night, on 



the 



