mixed fear and wrath against the pugnacious little animals which are pursuing them. It is a small animal, rarely exceeding eighteen inches in height, and yet is not less dreaded than the most savage wild Boar would be. Its jaws are armed with tusks, like those of the Boar, but they are straight instead of curved, are sharp at the edges, and although only about an inch and a half in length, inflict horrible wounds, on account of the muscular strength of the creature's neck. When a body of them charge against an enemy, fancied or real, they will never be driven away, but will fight till the last is slain. On this account, no one will willingly oppose them; and if a herd of Peccaries comes in the way, men, Horses, and Dogs, all fly in haste, as even the Horses would be soon brought down, for their legs would be cut to pieces. The best method of attacking them is that described by Webber in the following passage:

"But with all its other peculiarities to answer for, the drollest is yet

be thrown down. We find their giant stems stretched here and there through the canebrakes of Texas, overgrown with the densest thickets of the cane, matted together by strong and thorny vines. In these old trees the Peccaries find their favorite lodgings. Into one of these logs a drove of twenty or thirty of them will enter at night, each one backing in, so that the last one entering stands with his nose at the entrance. The planters, who dread them and hate them, as well on account of the ravages on their grain crops which they commit, the frequent destruction or mutilation by them of their stock-their favorite Dogs, and sometimes even their Horses, as on account of their ridiculous predicaments, such as taking to a tree, or running for their life, to which they have been subjected themselves, seek their destruction with the greatest eagerness.

"When a hollow log has been found which bears the marks of being used by them, the hunters wait with great impatience till the first dark, cloudy day of rain; a dark drizzle is the best, as it is well known that on such days they do not leave their lodgings at all. The planter, concealing himself just before day carefully out of view, but

THE COMMON, OR COLLARED PECCARY.

433

directly in front of the opening of the log, awaits in patient silence the coming of sufficient light. Soon as the day opens, peering cautiously through the cane, he can preceive the protruded snout, and sharp, watchful eyes, of the sentinel-Peccary on duty, while his fellows behind him

sleep.

Noise

lessly the unerring rifle is raised, the ring of its explosion is heard, and, with a convulsive spring, the sentinel leaps forward out of the hole, and rolls in its death-struggle, on the ground. Scarcely an instant passed, a low

is

grunt is heard,

PECCARIES SLEEPING.

and another pair of eyes is seen shining steadily in the place the others had just held. Not. a sound is heard, the planter loads again with such dexterity that not even a branch of the embowering cane is stirred. Again with steady nerve the piece is fired, out springs the second victim as the first had done; then another takes its place, and so on to the third, fourth, fifth, and twentieth, even to the last of the herd, unless the planter should happen by some carelessness to make a stir in the cane around him, when out it springs with a short grunt, without waiting to be shot this time, and followed by the whole herd, when they make a dash at the unlucky sportsman, who is now glad enough to take to his heels, and blesses his stars if he should be able to climb a tree or a fence in time to save his legs. If during the firing, the sentinel should happen to sink in the hole without making the usual spring, the one behind him roots out the body to take its place. They do not understand what the danger is, or whence it comes. Neither do they fear it, but face its mysterious power to the last. They never charge towards unseen enemies, until guided either by the sight of some disturbance caused by a motion in the thicket, or by those sounds with which they are familiar, indicating their position. Incredible as this account may appear, it is actually the method in which the settlements along Caney Creek and in the Brazos Bottoms have been of late years in a great measure relieved of this dangerous annoyance."

The Peccary alone of all animals appears to have resisted the terrors of the gun, and a herd of them will attack men with fire-arms, and only seem to be more enraged by the report and flash of the guns. The Indians eat the animal, but its flesh is not considered to be

particularly excellent, especially as the gland which the animal bears in its haunches has an evil effect on the meat, and causes it to become unfit for use in a very short time. Its color is a greyish black, caused by the color of the bristles, which are ringed at intervals with grey, straw-color, and black.

The glandular pouch on the back gives out a strong smell of garlic; but the use of the pouch or the secretion in the economy of the animal, is wholly unknown. This odor is given out in the greatest abundance when the animal is irritated, as then it erects the bristles on the neck and along the line of the back, by which means the gland is more compressed than when the animal is in a tranquil state. When alarmed, it utters a sharp and piercing kind of squeak, but not quite so piteous as that which is uttered by a Hog in distress; like Hogs, too, they express their satisfaction by a softened species of grunting. They are inhabitants of the woods in the lower grounds on the east side of South America; but we are not aware that they have been met with to the westward of the Andes, and they never occur in lofty situations. Buffon committed a curious blunder respecting this species of Peccary, The Spanish colonists in Paraguay, from whom he drew the materials of his account of the locality and habits of the animal, use the word monte as descriptive of a forest; and Buffon, confounding this with the French mont, described this Peccary as a mountain animal, which is the very reverse of its proper habitat. The same eloquent, but fanciful and not very accurate describer, represented the pale-colored collar, which obliquely surrounds the neck of this species, as a dorsal stripe extending along the ridge of the back.

These animals are found in pairs in the breeding season, and at these times they rarely, if ever, come out of the forest. The female produces, as is understood, only once in the year; and the young are generally two, and never more. They are easily tamed, and fond of being caressed, but they are also impatient of restraint, and if detained against their will, they not only erect their dorsal bristles, and utter their war-cry, but attempt to bite, which they do pretty severely. Some that have been kept in menageries in Europe, have shown much docility, as compared with the Hog when in the wild state. They preferred fruits and farinaceous vegetable substances to any other kind of food; but still when that was not given them, they could be very miscellaneous in their feeding. Well-known as these animals ought to be, there have been some mistakes about them; and the manners and numbers of this, which is really the most rare of the two, have sometimes been given to the other, which is a larger and bolder animal, and met with in herds, whereas the collared one seems to be more retiring and seldom met with except in pairs.

CETACEOUS ANIMALS.

THE animals of the Linnean order Cete have spiracles or breathing holes on the fore part of the skull. They have no feet: their pectoral fins are without nails; and the tail is horizontal.

This animal measures from twenty to thirty feet in length, exclusive of the weapon in front of its head, which is from five to eight feet long. In some individuals there are two weapons. The head is small in proportion to the size of the body; and the fins on the breast are also small. There is no dorsal fin. The skin is white, variegated with numerous black spots on the upper parts of the body.

Such are the size and bulk, and so powerful are the muscles of these animals, that they are able, in their own element, to move, in all directions, with astonishing velocity. The weapon which projects, sometimes to the length of six or eight feet, from their upper jaw, is one of the most formidable that can well be imagined. When urged with all their force, it will penetrate even into the solid timbers of a ship; and the body of no animal whatever is sufficiently hard to resist its effects. This weapon is not a horn, but is a species of tusk, in its substance not greatly dissimilar to the tusks of the Elephant. As ivory, it is, however, much more valuable than these, from the

28

(435)

circumstance of its being harder, and capable of receiving a much higher polish.

The detached weapons of Narwals are deposited, in many cabinets as the horns of that generally esteemed fabulous quadruped, the Uni corn. They have occasionally been found broken short off, and deeply buried in the keels and bottoms of vessels; and even in the bodies of some of the largest species of Whales, which either accident or design may have led the Narwal to plunge against.

These animals do not appear to have any organs of voice. It is stated that, in their general disposition and manners they are sufficently mild and peaceable; and that they are formidable only when compelled to defend themselves from the attack of their enemies. Their principal food consists of small fish, and marine animals of various kinds, such as the Actine and Cuttle-fish: the horny mandibles or jaws of the latter have sometimes been found in their stomachs, in immense quantity. They usually swim in troops; and are found in most parts of the Northern Ocean. The Greenlanders pursue and kill them on account of their oil. This thev employ in domestic uses:

tney also use the flesh for food, and the teeth as articles of traffic. The blubber of the Narwal is from two to three inches and a half in thickness, encompasses the whole body, and is sometimes more than half a ton in weight. This affords a large proportion of fine oil.

The females produce each a single young-one at a birth; and this they nourish for several months with milk, supplied from teats that are situated near the origin of their tail.

In the Northern seas, when the Narwal is harpooned, it dives in