208 Feasibility of taming Otters. Chapt xv. 



"who passed a row of nine or ten large and very beauti- 

 "ful otters, tethered with straw collars and long strings 

 "to bamboo stakes on the banks of the Matta Colly. 

 "'Some were swimming about at the full extent of their 

 '"strings, or lying half in and half out of the water; 

 " 'others were rolling themselves in the sun on the sandy 

 "'bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise as if in play. 

 " 'I was told that most of the fishermen in this neighbour- 

 "'hood kept one or more of these animals, who were 

 '"almost as tame as dogs, and of great use in fishing, 

 "'sometimes driving the shoals into the nets, sometimes 

 " 'bringing out the larger fish with their teeth.' Another 

 "proof, if any were wanting, of the feasibility of taming 

 "these animals and rendering them useful to man." 



Of a different species of otter the writer of this 

 article continues, "D'Azara further states that a neigh- 

 bour of his purchased . a young whelp which at six 

 "months old was 34 inches long. It was permitted to 

 "run loose about the house, and was fed with fish, flesh, 

 "bread, mandioca, and other food, but it preferred fish. 

 "It would walk into the street and return, knew the 

 "people of the house, came when called by name, and 

 "would follow them like a dog, but its short legs soon 

 "failed it, and it soon grew weary. It would amuse it- 

 "self with dogs and cats as well as with their masters; 

 "but it was a rough play-fellow, and required to be 

 "treated cautiously, for it bit sharply. It never harmed 

 "poultry or any other animal excepting sucking-pigs, 

 "which were not safe within its reach, and it would have 



