EXPEDITION TO SURINAM. 327 



it would kill every one of his fowls, he ordered it, to my chap. 

 forrow, to be (hot down, with all its young ones. — The j^^^^^^* 

 Virginian oppoffum I never fi.iw ; and my only further 

 remark on this fhall be, that its adlivity very much fur- 

 prized n\e, as many writers have denied it this quality. 

 For further particulars, I refer the reader to the murine 

 or moufe oppofTum above-mentioned, as in moft circum- 

 ftances thefe two animals perfedtly a';ree. 



Among the deftroyers of poultry, there is another ani- 

 mal in this country, known by the name of quacy-quacy : 

 fome call it the racoon, but which properly is the coati-* 

 mondi, or Brafilian weaf^jl; though many people, with 

 fome degree of propriety, compare it to a fox, as it is 

 often able to carry away a goofe or a turkey, and is alfa 

 extremely cunning. This creature is fometimes near two 

 feet long, the body fhaped like that of a dog, and com- 

 monly black, or rather dark brown, though many are of 

 a bright bay colour : the tail is long, hairy, and annulated 

 with black, and a deep buff; the bread and belly are a 

 dirty white; the head is a light brown, with long jaws, 

 and a black fnout that projedls upwards for near two^ 

 inches, and is moveable like that of the tapira; the eyes 

 are fmali, the ears are fiiort and rounded, while on each 

 Ude a curved ftripe connedls them and the muzzle ; the 

 legs of the coati are fliort, efpecially the foremoftj the feet 

 are very long, with five toes on each, and long claws, 

 while the animal, like the bear, always walks on the heel, 

 and Hands on thofe behind. No quadrupeds (the mon- 



kies 



