429 



Continuing to descend the river, we met with 

 the great herd of chiguires, which the tiger had 

 put to flight, and from which he had selected 

 his prey. These animals saw us land with great 

 tranquillity; some of them were seated, and 

 gazed upon us, moving the upper lip like rabbits. 

 They seemed not to be afraid of men, but the 

 sight of our great dog put them to flight. Their 

 hind legs being longer than their fore legs, their 

 pace is a slight gallop, but with so little swiftness, 

 that we succeeded in catching two of them. 

 The chiguire, which swims with the greatest 

 agility, utters a short moan in running, as if it's 

 respiration were impeded. It is the largest of 

 the family of gnawing animals. It defends 

 itself only at the last extremity, when it is sur- 

 rounded and wounded. Having great strength 

 in it's grinding teeth % particularly the hinder 

 ones, which are pretty long, it can tear the paw 

 of a tiger, or the leg of a horse, with it's bite. 

 It's flesh has a smell of musk somewhat dis- 

 agreeable ; yet hams are made of it in this 

 country, which almost justifies the name of 



* We reckoned eighteen on each side. On the hind feet, 

 at the upper end of the metatarsus, there is a callosity three 

 inches long and three quarters of an inch broad, destitute of 

 hair. The animal when seated rests upon this part. No 

 tail is visible externally ; but on putting aside the hair we 

 discover a tubercle, a mass of naked and wrinkled flesh, of a 

 conical figure, and half an inch long. 



