78 THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. 



more respectable monkeys than their colored breth- 

 ren of the forest. The reel kind are said to be the 

 most noisy, but from the serenades we were favored 

 with, I should judge that it took all classes to make 

 the nights so hideous. 



Two kinds of wild hogs are occasionally to be 

 found ; one with a long snout, and having two large 

 tusks projecting from the lower jaw, which renders 

 them very ugly looking, but otherwise not differing 

 much from the common domestic animal. The other 

 is shorter and of a gray color, with its bristles or long 

 coarse hair standing out, giving it a scrubby appear- 

 " ance. The flesh of the last is particularly esteemed 

 by the natives. 



The tapir is a solitary animal, intermediate be- 

 tween a hog and a hippopotamus, both of which it 

 in some respects resembles. It is sometimes called 

 the hippopotamus of the New World, being like that 

 animal, not only in appearance but in its disposition 

 and habits, although not larger than a small cow. 

 One was killed at Bujio Soldado, and its flesh was 

 found equal in quality to the native beef. It has a 

 long slender nose, forming a sort of probocis capable 

 of voluntary contraction and extension. It is inoffen- 

 sive and timid, fleeing from, rather than resisting 

 danger. It sleeps during the day, and feeds at night, 

 wholly on vegetables ; its skin is very thick, and 

 when dried will resist an arrow, and is used by the 

 natives to make sandals. The ocelot, jaguar, bear, 

 and deer, are said to be occasionally seen, but they 

 are by no means common. Sloths and several species 



