216 



Us shape is nearly conical. The ears arc small, 

 pointed and hairy, the nose is long, and the teeth are 

 precisely like those of the hare and the rabbit ; its 

 fore paws have four toes, and the hinder five, and 

 the tail is so short that it can scarcely be seen. 

 This animal has been domesticated in Chili, and is of 

 various colours, white, brown, grey and spotted- 

 Its hair is very fine and silky, but too short for spin- 

 ning ; the flesh is very white and delicately tasted. 

 The female breeds every month, and has from six 

 to eight young. The cuy, though it resembles the 

 rabbit, avoids its society, and never copulates with 

 it. It is vefy much afraid of cats and rats, which 

 appear to be its destroyers. In Peru there is an ani- 

 ^mal which bears the same name, and is also domesti- 

 cated, but as I have never seen it, I cannot deter- 

 inine whether it is of the same species or otherwise. 

 It may be proper, however, to observe, that cuy is 

 a sreneral name in America for a number of little 

 a^iimals like rabbits, which are mostly of the genus 

 of the cavy. 



The viscacha (lepus viscacia) is an animal resem- 

 bling both the rabbit and the fox. It is rather lar- 

 ger, but has the head, ears, mouth, whiskers, teeth, 

 feet, and nearly the same manner of feeding as the 

 rabbit. In its colour and tail it resembles the fox ; 

 the hair on the body is very fine and soft, and is ca- 

 pable of being advantageously employed for many 

 purposes. The ancient Peruvians made beautiful 

 cloths of it, and it is now used in Chili for the manu- 

 facture of hats. The tail, with which it defends it- 

 self against its enemies, is very long, turned up, 



