ANIMALS, 



87 



and the tail about twelve ; and the hair of its 

 skin was extremely soft ; the animal was cling- 

 ing closely to the bough of a tree, and its tail 

 also was entwining the branch. My black 

 friend, the shoemaker, told me that he had 

 been ordered to eat the flesh of the tamandud 

 after having had an eruptive complaint, and that 

 it was very beneficial for persons who were re- 

 covering from the bobas or yaws. He said that 

 it had " a taste which was like unto the smell 

 of the ants." The Sloth was to be seen here 

 occasionally ; also the cotia (cavia caudata). The 

 porco da India, the guinea-pig, I have only seen 

 in a tame state. At Jaguaribe, the capivara 

 {cavia capybard) was often seen among the man- 

 groves ; the Indians sometimes eat it, but few 

 of the negroes will. There is also another man- 

 grove animal, which is called in that country 

 "uachinim ; it feeds on crabs, and from what 

 I could hear, has much resemblance to a cat, 

 but the tail is much longer ; however I never 

 saw it. Neither did I see the lontra or sea-otter, 

 but the skins of this animal are much valued for 

 saddle-cloths, bearing a higher price even than 

 the skin of the jaguar. 



I heard accidentally, in conversing with per- 

 sons of the lower ranks in life, of an instance in 

 which the Indians continued their heathenish 

 customs. A family resided at a plantation in 

 this neighbourhood, which had much intimacy 



g 4 



