343 



markable, that, according- to Le Gentil, among 

 the Hindoos, though this people was unacquaint- 

 ed with the series of signs which begins with the 

 rat, the place of the Ram is sometimes occupied 

 by a marron dog. In the same manner, among 

 the Mexicans, itzcuintli denotes the wild dog ; 

 for that which is tame is called techichi. Mexico 

 formerly swarmed with carnivorous quadrupeds* 

 of a species between the wolf and the dog, which 

 Hernandes has but imperfectly described. The 

 race of these animals, known by the names of 

 ccoloitzcuintli, itzciiintepotzotli, and tepeitzcirintli, 

 is perhaps not yet entirely destroyed ; but pro- 

 bably withdrawn into the most desert and soli- 

 tary forests. In the part of the country through 

 which I passed, I have never heard any mention 

 of a marron dog. Le Gentil *\~ and Bailly were 

 mistaken, when they asserted, that the word 

 media, which denotes our ram, signifies a marron 

 dog. This word of the Sanscrit language is the 

 ordinary name of the ram, it is employed J in a 

 very poetical manner by an Indian author, who 

 describes the combat of two warriors, saying, 

 u that by their heads they were two mecha 

 " (rams) ; by their arms, two elephants; by their 

 " feet, two noble coursers." 



* See my Tableaux de la Nature, Tom. 1, p. 117. 

 f Le Gentil, Voyage, Tom. 1, p. 247. 

 + Observation de Mr. de Chezy. 



