24 



ping out the first object which struck me was the Ant-bear, running 

 in a kind of dog gallop towards the houses, and flanked on both 

 sides by the red-skinned Indians, who were furnished with bows and 

 arrows, which they were ready to discharge, should the animal break 

 through their lines. Having arrived at the walls of the fort, it re- 

 treated in one of the corners which a bastion formed, and attempted 

 to climb up by thrusting its nails into some of the larger interstices 

 between the freestone of which the walls are built ; it did not, how- 

 ever, succeed, and we managed to throw a lasso over it. The 

 animal defended itself vahantly, and as the surrounding persons 

 appeared to be afraid of it, it ran a fair chance of slipping the 

 noose ; some of the men more courageous than the rest threw il^ 

 however, on the ground, and another noose being fixed to one of its 

 legs, it was secured, and safely lodged in the yard attached to our 

 lodgings. In its endeavours to get rid of the rope, which passed 

 round the rump, it chafed itself considerably, and we found it ne- 

 cessary to make a roomy pen, to which it was conveyed. It be- 

 gan to feed on the third day : we gave it Ants and farina ; the 

 latter, a preparation of Cassada root, it never refused. The Ants' 

 nests in the neighbourhood of the fort were soon exhausted, and 

 more in way of experiment than out of persuasion that the animal 

 would eat it, some small pieces of fresh beef w'ere placed before it ; 

 to our greatest astonishment it ate the meat with avidity, and has 

 since been chiefly fed on fresh beef and fish. We observed that in 

 the course of three weeks it evacuated only twice, and then very 

 copiously ; this was likewise the case with the young one ; and before 

 I noticed the same circumstance with the adult, I thought its death 

 was partly caused by constipation. 



" i3y kind treatment it soon became domesticated, and fed out of 

 our hands. When not asleep, (in which state it used the same 

 position as already related,) it rested entirely on its haunches, and 

 stretching its long snout through the palings of its pen, it surveyed 

 the surrounding objects, and snuft'ed the air. 



" It even raised itself frequently, and without difficulty, to nearly 

 an erect posture, and remained thus for some minutes ; sometimes 

 it sat with its fore feet crossed. In feeding, it kneeled as sheep 

 and goats do. It attempted frequently to take up objects with its 

 paws ; in this manoeuvre its long claws assisted wonderfully. In 

 rising from its resting posture it used first to get upon its knees. 



" When some meat was thrown before it, it expanded the lateral 

 apertures of the nostrils, and seemed, by moving its flexible upper 

 lip, as if it intended to seek out the most delicate morsels. It 

 climbed up the palings of its pen with great agiiity, never using 

 both of its arms at a time, but first one and then the other ; and 

 if it had taken hold sufficiently with its claws, it raised the whole 

 body, and brought up the hinder feet. We may conclude from this 

 feat upon the strength of the muscles of its fore feet. The great 

 muscle of the arm, of one which we dissected, was two inches wide, 

 and three eighths of an inch thick. 



'' I have already remarked how fond the young one was of climb- 



