164 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



It seemed difficult to preserve those little ani- 

 mals in a state of captivity, and still more so to 

 transport them into our climates. It is of import- 

 ance, besides, to advertise those who may be dis- 

 posed to import them into Europe, of the precau- 

 tions which it is indispensably necessary to em- 

 ploy in keeping them while on ship-board : they 

 are the same with those used in bringing over the 

 agauti*, or acouc1if\, and the other quadrupeds 

 with gnawing teeth, of America. They must be 

 kept closely shut up in cages or in casks, with- 

 out a possibility of their escaping ; their natural 

 disposition inciting them to devour every thing, 

 they might occasion very considerable damage to 

 a ship in the course of a voyage : and, being capa- 

 ble of eating through the hardest wood, might en- 

 danger her sinking. 



I had scarcely published my observations on the 

 gerboise of Egypt, in 1787, when there appeared 

 on that subject, in the Journal of Natural History J, 

 aletterofM.Berthout-van-Berchem. That learned 

 gentleman charges me with two mistakes, gratui- 

 tously enough, as in the two contested points I 



* Buffon, Hist. Nat. des Animaux Quadrnpedes. — Cavia 

 agutu Lin. 



f Id. Supplem. to the Hist, of Quad. — Cavia acuschy. Lin. 

 \ By Messrs. Bertholon and Boyer, A. D. 1788, No. 12. 



have 



