Schomburgk's Account of Roraima. 303 



manner of swaddling clothes ; every movement is made 

 impossible to him. In this strait waistcoat he remains 

 for some days; he is made to drink cane juice, and eat 

 meats cooked in nitrous solution and highly seasoned 

 with capsicum. This drastic treatment jstill failing in 

 its effect, the unruly patient is at every outbreak of his 

 wild fury hung up for a short time above a smoky fire. 

 Very soon his frenzied rage will soften, his eyes, which 

 shot malicious venom only a few minutes ago, become mild 

 and humbly pray for deliverance. His fetters are now 

 loosened, all memory of bygone times is gone, and the 

 greyest and morosest of monkeys becomes as tame as if 

 he had nevei frolicked abo'it in the forest. According 

 to Professor POPPIG the same proceeding is used by the 

 Indians on the banks of the Huallaga, whenever they 

 want to tame a monkey. 



Of the above mentioned cavia, (C, leucopygia) we 

 often had from 6 to 8 live specimens brought to us 

 without our ever succeeding in keeping one of them 

 alive, which seems to confirm the opinions of the 

 Indians that they cannot be tamed. Though we 

 had sometimes as many as ten or twelve, not one of 

 them would be alive after the second or third day of 

 their imprisonment. They live in caves, from out of 

 which they are swamped with water and easily caught. 

 They have a dark grey skin, rather whitish on the 

 abdomen. Their forelegs are very short, only 3 inches 

 long, the hindlegs somewhat longer. The female has 

 only two nipples close to the flanks. Their silky coat is 

 so delicately fixed to the skin that even the softest touch 

 removes it, leaving a bare spot. 



The scarcity of fish in the rivers I have already men- 

 QQ2 



