81 



of a large cat, which had been brought up with 

 it in father Zea's house. 



It was among the cataracts that we began to 

 hear of the hairy man of the woods, called sal- 

 vaje, that carries off women, constructs huts, and 

 sometimes eats human flesh. The Tamanacks 

 call it achi*, and the Maypures vasitri, or great 

 devil. The natives and the missionaries have 

 no doubt of the existence of this anthropomor- 

 phous monkey, which they singularly dread. 

 Father Gili-f- gravely relates the history of a 

 lady in the town of San Carlos;}:, who much 

 praised the gentle character and attentions of 

 the man of the woods. She lived several years 

 with one in great domestic harmony, and only 

 requested some hunters to take her back, u be- 

 cause she was tired, she and her children (a little 

 hairy also), of living far from the church and 

 the sacraments." The same author, notwith- 

 standing his credulity, confesses, that he had 

 not been able to find an Indian, who asserted 

 positively that he had seen the salvaje with his 

 own eyes. This fable, which the missionaries, 

 the European planters, and the negroes of Africa, 

 have no doubt embellished with many features 

 taken from the description of the manners of the 



* Pronounce atschi. 

 + Saggio, vol. i, p. 248, 315. 

 X In the Llanos of Venezuela. 

 VOL. V. G 



