504 



APPENDIX -ZOOLOGY. 



is inevitable, unless his companions destroy it with their arms, or he is prepared with a lance to 

 despatch it when it makes the last spring. It seizes upon its prey first with the paws and then with 

 the teeth. 



The Paca is a heavy creeping quadruped, little more than two spans in length, without a tail, 

 having small ears, the snout of a rabbit, coarse strong hair, and is of a reddish colour, with small 

 white spots along the sides, and streaked with the same colour along the back. It is the best game 

 of the country, and is divested of its hair and prepared for the table similarly to a sucking pig. 



The PoECO-ESPlM, or Porcupine, is of the size of a cat, with a long tail, and covered with long 

 sharp-pointed quills, but its head has a greater resemblance to that of a dog. It is most numerous 

 near the central rivers. 



The Preguica, or Sloth, is a stout short quadruped ; very lazy ; covered with long thick hair; having 

 stout legs armed with large paws ; a small head, and round physiognomy, with some similarity to a 

 monkey without ears or tail, and climbs trees. It subsists upon leaves. Its extreme slowness gives 

 rise to its name. It is asserted in the Poem of Caramura that it possesses this tardy propensity to 

 such a degree that in a few paces it consumes a whole day.* 



The Preha is of the size and colour of a leveret, with the snout more rounded ; the ears are very 

 small and membranous, and it is without a tail. It can swim small brooks and rivers, and is esteemed 

 good eating, particularly by the negroes. 



The QuATi is very similar to a fox, at the first sight, chiefly in the head, but its ears are shorter, 

 rounder, and less hairy. Its hair is also long, thick, aud soft, like the fox, of which it has the physi- 

 ognomy. The legs are short and thick, the feet long, with five toes, furnished with claws, with which 

 it climbs trees and digs up insects. The tail is long and round, gradually growing smaller to the 

 extremity, and varied with a succession of rings ; the mouth is long, becoming smaller towards the 

 extremity, like that of a hog; the mouth is large, with teeth similar to those of a dog; the under 

 jaw is almost an inch and a half shorter than the upper. This animal may be so domesticated that 

 it will accompany its master into the campos like a little dog; but its natural restlessness requires it 

 generally to be confined. There are two sorts of this quadruped, differing only in size. The small 

 class always proceed in bands, and are called quati-monde. 



The RoPozA, or Fox, is less than that of Europe, equally subtle, and even more destructive in the 

 damage it does to the cane plantations and melons. Its skin is used only for housings. 



Amongst the various races of Rats is the Kato de Espinho, {the Prickly Rat,) which is large, white 

 bellied, its upper part ash-coloured, and its sides furnished with prickles. It is agreeable to the sight, 

 without smell, and its flesh is esteemed good. 



The Sarohe, or Gamba, a species of the Oppossum, is as large as a middle sized cat, with the form 

 of a rat, of a disagreeable aspect and nauseous smell ; the legs are short ; the feet and ears like a rat ; 

 its hair is thin, long, and sleek ; tlie tail long, becoming small towards the end, and without hair. It 

 has the head and snout of a pig, a large mouth, with the teeth of a dog. This animal is one of the 

 most remarkable objects in Natural History in consequence of a second belly, or womb, which it 

 has below the upper or natural one, with an opening, or mouth, at the fore part, within which it 

 carries its young till they arrive at an age to procure their own subsistence. Some say that this qua- 



* Conserva o tardo irapulso por tal raodo. 

 Que em poucos passes raette um dia todo. 



Cant. vii. p. 57. 



