32 Information respectmy Botanical Travellers. 



pacity to overtake their prey by swiftness, they resort to stratagem. 

 When pressed by hunger they do not despise carrion. The Gulo 

 barbarus and Galictis vittata which I have seen in a tame state, had 

 the greatest aversion for water. I recollect the boys at the Woya- 

 wai settlement amused themselves with carrying the tame Galictis 

 vittata to the banks of the brook ; it availed itself of the first oppor- 

 tunity to escape, and if it had wet its feet, it used the same manoeu- 

 vres as a cat to get rid of any moisture which might have remained 

 on it. The Gulo barbarus is equally fearful of the water. If, there- 

 fore, naturalists have observed any resemblances between the Grison 

 and the Otter, this does not refer to their habits. It may resemble 

 the bear in its gait and semi-plantigrade feet, but there exists no 

 further affinity ; while at the first glance, its slender body, the short- 

 ness of its legs, the softness of its fur, its dentition and sanguinary 

 habits, and not least, the strong odour, point to the typical Mustelidte 

 with regard to the position which the Grison ought to occupy. 



Our tents were pitched on the 9th October, 1838, at the foot of a 

 hillock, the summit of which was crowned by a remarkable natural 

 column, known to the Macusi Indians under the name of Pourae 

 Piapa, or the felled tree, from the resemblance which it bears to a 

 trunk of a tree deprived of its leafy crown. While we were ascend- 

 ing the hill for a nearer inspection of this wonderful freak of nature, 

 the Indians had set the Savannahs on fire. A general bustle of 

 those who had remained in the camp attracted my attention. I saw 

 the men armed with bows and arrows, and accompanied by their dogs 

 under full cry in pursuit of some game. The chase was of short 

 duration, and when reaching the spot where the pursuers had come to 

 a stand, I found that an Armadillo of gigantic size, which no doubt 

 had been chased by the flames from its retreat, had caused the com- 

 motion. It was lying there a round misshapen mass, its head partly 

 buried under its armour, the feet drawn together, and its body 

 pierced by numerous arrows. Ever and anon the barking dogs in- 

 flicted new wounds, or another iron-headed arrow was sent through 

 its shell into the flesh of the poor animal, which offered not the 

 slightest resistance to its tormenters ; and I do not know how long 

 they would have continued to inflict new tortures, if I had not de- 

 sired them to end its sufferings by the heavy stroke of a club. 



I continued my visit to the Pourae piapa with the intention of ta- 

 king the dimensions of the Armadillo after my return to the camp; in 

 this I was however disappointed ; when I arrived there it was cut 



