SECTION XVII. NATURAL HISTORY. THE AMERICAN BADGER.-CONCLUDED. "The hair of the Badger is always filthy; between the anus and the tail there is an opening, which, though it has no communication with any interior part, and is hardly an inch deep, continually emits an oily liquid. This the animal is fond of sucking. Its flesh, when the animal is well fed, makes excellent hams and bacon; and of its skin are made coarse furs, collars for dogs, and trappings for horses. The hair is used for painters' brushes. "Hunting this animal forms a source of amusement and emolument to the Indians of Bocca Montana, Albarregas, and most tribes that inhabit the higher regions of the Cordilleras, from Coro to Cumana. As there are no stated periods for taking it, although in the months of August, September, and October, it is certainly fattest, they continue to search for it the whole year round, unless during the breeding season, when the flesh is lank and lean, and the lard, or butter (manteca) rancid. In making their hunting dispositions, they form parties of seven or eight, or more. When the tribe is numerous, they will sometimes take five, six, or seven miles in a sweep over the country; and such is their dexterity and address in taking these animals, that they will nearly clear it for five or six years of Badgers, notwithstanding all the obstruction of brushwood, cover, &c. &c. In these excursions they are accompanied by a number of women and boys, whose business it is to build temporary huts, cook, collect fruits, and, lastly, to cure what Badger hams and gammons the men catch; this is no sinecure, and although they rest during the night, the day ushers them in more labour than comes to the hunter's share. When they arrive at the Badgers' haunts,-generally in high situations, contiguous to rocks, for the purpose of burrowing when hard pressed,-they soon discover his traces by the manner in which he scrapes for pistachios and other nuts. They then search the rock until they find out the burrow, and also under the projecting roots of large trees, the hollows of which afford them shelter. When the burrows are in trees, they seldom give themselves the trouble of erecting pitfalls for them, as their curs kill and drag them out, or else they dig them out. When the burrows are in the rocks, they set to work to erect pitfalls or traps, in the building of which they display a regularity and system that would do credit to a European mason. As the falls are four feet by four in height and breadth, the flags with which they are built are so closely set, as to prevent the creature introducing his paw-nails between them; for his strength is such that he would raise a stone of two or three hundred weight. As the Badgers' family generally consists of seven or eight, the hunters set as many of those pitfalls in their way as will intercept them, one by one, in making their passage to their burrows; and frequently one in the mouth of the burrow, provided it is large enough, covering them with turf, earth, and leaves, over little twigs. As soon as they have made sufficient number, with incredible labour and perseverance, using no other implements than their hatchets and stone-hammers, the covering-flag is placed over; at the back of this they place a quantity of rubbish so as to give weight to its VOL. II. 17 fall, and plant bushes so artfully as to deceive a stranger, forming a lane, through which the creature must necessarily pass to his burrow. Then one or two ascend the trees or highest rock, to give notice of the Badgers' approach; while another is buried in sight of the traps in such a manner as to be covered with leaves, and in such a posture as to observe the creatures coming toward the traps, and hurry them into them by missiles, but never attempts to show himself until the Badger passes him. In this manner the remainder of the party advance into the brushwood, and then let loose their dogs, who, on scenting the Badgers, set up a whining cry, accompanied by the rattles of the Indians, making the Badger start, and betake himself to his burrow. Sometimes seven or eight will start together, the most of which are always caught; but should one escape, they again hunt the ground over. If their party is not numerous enough, the women join after the first chase, as the danger of coming in contact with tigers is over, the first noise having started these as well as most noxious creatures. Indeed, the Badger is seldom found near the jungle, as he is not fond of such neighbours. Should one escape the traps, which is very seldom the case, they leave the traps set day and night, and a man to watch him, until hunger forces him to quit his subterraneous abode. Sometimes the Indian curs will enter, and kill the creature, if his burrow is large enough to admit them; yet he often makes them retreat, provided they cannot surround him, although those curs are certainly superior to our European terriers in bite, and tenacity of their hold. Whenever a Badger earths, the Indians cast lots, to know which shall watch until the Badger breaks, leaving him two days' provisions in the mean time, supposing this to be the usual time until the animal bolts. But it is sometimes a toss up which will hold out longest, especially if it be an old Badger; but even here the Indian has decidedly the advantage. as he is known to endure four days' hunger, without any bad results. If it happens in harvest, he is pretty well off; for his cunning makes him an overmatch for the animal, and he always carries the image of a man, of rude workmanship, which he sets before the earth, supported by twigs in a moving position; this prevents the Badger stirring while the Indian goes in quest of food, a work of little time with him, as he is satisfied with the first thing he finds: he soon returns to await the coming out of his subterraneous visiter, as the disgrace of returning without the Badger is shocking to a hunter, and debars his ever being a guapo, or warrior, until he can, by some extraordinary feat, wipe this stain off his name. They also use the noose or snare to catch these creatures, which is placed across the pathways, like rabbit-wires, with this exception, that the Indian snare is attached to a spring pole, that suspends and strangles the creature. The South American Badger is larger than those in Europe, and much browner; he is also much easier killed. "Perhaps its habits are the most social of any quadruped in the universe; it is not known to quarrel with any other quadruped; even the fox, polecat, stinkard, the opossum, the land crab and snake, make it resign its abode, although it is much stronger than any of them. It also lives in the greatest harmony with its own species, subsisting principally on nuts, roots, and vegetables; and is cleanly in its habits, being observed to perform its ablution while the dew is on the ground. | differs also in the hair. As for its interior, its viscera The Indians count two species of it, viz. the Marano, or pig-badger, and the Pero, or dog-badger. I am informed the former roots for its amusement like a pig; they bring forth two, three, and four at a litter, and preserve them carefully. Badger hams are certainly delicious, and the sale of them was prohibited but to the viceroy, who generally shipped a quantity of them annually to Madrid for the use of their august majesties; now they are purchased for one fourth their original value, as the viceroy sometimes paid eight or ten dollars for a pair of gammons. The way of curing them, perhaps, contributed to their flavour, which was simply to rub them with coarse sugar and Chili pepper, each day pressing them very hard until quite dry. This source of emolument would have been considerable to these hunting tribes, were they not cheated and made tributary to the viceroy, as they had to give him a dozen first, and afterward take trinkets out of the stores, at whatever price he chose to demand. The butter, or manteca de marano, as they call the lard, was also in great demand among the grandees, who fried most of their food in it. "A party of eight would destroy two or three hundred Badgers and a quantity of deer, on their return home, besides guanas. These hunting parties are so delightful, even to the women, that the hopes of being allowed to accompany the men will be a stimulus to conduct themselves properly the year round. On those excursions they live well, and seem more happy than during the rainy season: in their way home they travel day and night rapidly, in spite of all obstructions, carrying long poles between them, on which the animals are slung; the skins and lard the boys carry. The women are certainly the heaviest loaded, and must keep pace with those gentry; the dogs too are better fed during this period, and seem to return with regret. A cloud of vultures generally hover over them, and are seen by their clans a day or two before they arrive, who make every preparation to receive them: their return is greeted like that of victors. The rainy nights are passed in recounting their exploits one to another. are both formed and situated differently; but the most distinctive, and, at the same time, the most singular character, is, that the Unau has forty-six ribs, while the Ai has but twenty-eight. This alone supposes two species, quite distinct one from the other; and these forty-six ribs, in an animal whose body is so short, is a kind of excess or error in nature; for, even in the largest animals, and those whose bodies are relatively longer than they are thick, not one of them is found to have so many. The elephant has only forty, the dog twenty-six, and the human species twenty-four, &c. This difference in the construction of the Unau and the Ai supposes a greater distance between these two kinds than there is between that of the cat and the dog, which have the same number of ribs; for the external differences are nothing in comparison with the internal ones, which are the causes of the others. These animals have neither incisive nor canine teeth; their eyes are dull and heavy; their mouths wide and thick; their fur coarse and staring, and like dried grass; their thighs seem almost disjointed from the haunch; their legs very short, and badly shaped; they have no soles to the feet, nor toes separately moveable, but only two or three claws excessively long, and crooked downwards and backwards. Unfurnished with teeth, they cannot seize any prey, nor feed upon flesh, nor even upon vegetable food. "Although they have neither horns on their heads, nor hoofs to their feet, nor incisive teeth to their lower jaw, they are, notwithstanding, among the number of ruminating animals, and have, like them, four stomachs; so that they, consequently, can compensate for the quality of their food by the quantity they take at a time; and what is still more singular is, that, instead of having, like other ruminating animals, very long intestines, theirs are very short, like those of the carnivorous kind. "Both these animals belong to the southern parts of the New Continent, and are never to be met with in the Old. The Unau, as well as the Ai, is to be met with in the deserts of America, from Brazil to Mexico: but they have never inhabited the northern countries. They cannot endure cold nor rain; the change from wet to dry spoils their fur which then resembles badly dressed hemp, rather than wool or hair. "Mr. Waterton, who, in his numerous and protracted journeys through the woods of South America, had abundant opportunities of studying the natural history of the Sloth has shown the incorrectness of preceding writers upon this subject. "Let us turn our attention (says he) to the Sloth, whose haunts have been hitherto so little known, and probably little looked into. Those who have written on this singular animal have remarked that he is in a perpetual state of pain; that he is proverbially slow in his movements; that he is a prisoner in space; and that, as soon as he has consumed all the leaves of the tree upon which he has mounted, he rolls himself up in the form of a ball, and then falls to the ground. This is not the case. "If the naturalists who have written the history of the Sloth had gone into the wilds, in order to examine his haunts and economy, they would not have drawn the foregoing conclusions; they would have learned that, though all other quadrupeds may be described while resting on the ground, the Sloth is an exception to this rule, and that his history must be written while he is in the tree. "This singular animal is destined by nature to be produced, to live, and to die, in the trees; and, to do justice to him, naturalists must examine him in his upper element. He is a scarce and solitary animal, and, being good food, he is never allowed to escape He inhabits remote and gloomy forests, where snakes take up their abode, and where cruelly stinging ants and scorpions, and swamps, and innumerable thorny shrubs and bushes, obstruct the steps of civilized man. "However, we are now in his own domain. Man but little frequents these thick and noble forests, which extend far and wide on every side of us. This, then, is the proper place to go in quest of the Sloth. We will first take a near view of him. By obtaining a knowledge of his anatomy, we shall be enabled to account for his movements hereafter, when we see him in his proper haunts. His fore legs, or, more correctly speaking, his arms, are apparently much too long, while his hind legs are very short, and look as if they could be bent almost to the shape of a corkscrew. Both the fore and hind legs, by their form, and by the manner in which they are joined to the body, are quite incapacitated from acting in a perpendicular direction, in supporting it on the earth, as the bodies of other quadrupeds are supported, by their legs. Hence, when you place him on the floor, his belly touches the ground. Now, granted that he supported himself on his legs like other animals, nevertheless he would be in pain, for he has no soles to his feet, and his claws are very sharp, and long, and curved; so that, were his body supported by his feet, it would be by their extremities; just as your body would be were you to throw yourself on all fours, and try to support it on the ends of your toes and fingers-a trying position. Were the floor of glass, or of a polished surface, the Sloth would actually be quite stationary; but as the ground is generally rough, with little protuberances upon it, such as stones, or roots of grass, &c., this just suits the Sloth, and he moves his fore legs in all directions, in order to find something to lay hold of; and when he has succeeded, he pulls himself forward, and is thus enabled to travel onwards, but, at the same time, in so tardy a manner as to acquire him the name of Sloth. "Indeed, his looks and his gestures evidently betray his uncomfortable situation; and, as a sigh every now and then escapes him, we may.be entitled to conclude that he is actually in pain. "Some years ago I kept a Sloth in my room for several months. I often took him out of the house, and placed him upon the ground, in order to have an opportunity of observing his motions. If the ground were rough, he would pull himself forward by means of his fore-legs, at a pretty good pace, and he invariably shaped his course towards the nearest tree. But if I put him upon a smooth and well trodden part of the road, he appeared to be in trouble and distress: his favourite abode was the back of a chair; and, after getting all his legs in a line upon the topmost part of! it, he would hang there for hours together, and often, with a low and inward cry, would seem to invite me to take notice of him. "The Sloth, in its wild state, spends its whole life in the trees, and never leaves them but through force or accident. An all-ruling Providence has ordained man to tread on the surface of the earth, the eagle to soar in the expanse of the skies, and the monkey and squirrel to inhabit the trees: still these may change their relative situations without feeling much inconvenience; but the Sloth is doomed to spend his whole life in the trees; and, what is more extraordinary, not upon the branches, like the squirrel and the monkey, but under them. He moves suspended from the branch, he rests suspended from it, and he sleeps suspended from it. To enable him to do this, he must have a very different formation from that of any other known quadruped. "Hence, his seemingly bungled conformation is, at once accounted for; and, in lieu of the Sloth leading a painful life, and entailing a melancholy and miserable existence on its progeny, it is but fair to surmise that it enjoys life just as much as any other animal, and that its extraordinary formation and singular habits are but further proofs to engage us to admire the wonderful works of Omnipotence. "It must be observed, that the Sloth does not hang head downwards like the vampyre. When asleep, he supports himself on a branch parallel to the earth. He first seizes the branch with one arm, and then with the other; and, after that, brings up both his legs, one by one, to the same branch; so that all four are in a line; he seems perfectly at rest in this position. Now, had he a tail, he would be at a loss to know what to do with it in this position: were he to draw it up with his legs, it would intefere with them; and were he to let it hang down, it would become the sport of the winds. Thus his deficiency of tail is a benefit to him; it is merely an apology for a tail, scarcely exceeding an inch and a half in length. "I observed when he was climbing, he never used his arms both together, but first one and then the other, and so on alternately. There is a singularity in his hair, different from that of all other animals, and I believe, hitherto unnoticed by naturalists; his hair is thick and coarse at the extremity, and gradually tapers to the root, where it becomes fine as the finest spider's web. His fur has so much the hue of the moss which grows on the branches of the trees, that it is very difficult to make him out when he is at rest. "The male of the three-toed Sloth has a longitudinal bar of very fine black hair on his back, rather lower than the shoulder-blades; on each side of this black hair there is a space of yellow hair, equally fine; it has the appearance of being pressed into the body, and looks exactly as if it had been singed. If we examine the anatomy of his fore legs, we shall immediately perceive, by their firm and muscular texture, how very capable they are of supporting the pendent weight of his body, both in climbing and at rest; and, instead of pronouncing them a bungled composition, as a celebrated naturalist has done, we shall consider them as remarkably well calculated to perform their ordinary functions. "As the Sloth is an inhabitant of forests within the tropics, where the trees touch each other in the greatest profusion, there seems to be no reason why he should confine himself to one tree alone for food, and entirely strip it of its leaves. During the many years I have ranged the forests, I have never seen a tree in such a state of nudity; indeed I would hazard a conjecture, that by the time the animal has finished the last of the old leaves, there would be a new crop on the part of the tree he had stripped first, ready for him to begin again, so quick is the process of vegetation in these countries. "There is a saying among the Indians, that when the wind blows, the Sloth begins to travel. In calm weather he remains tranquil, probably not liking to cling to the brittle extremity of the branches, lest they should break with him in passing from one tree to another; but as soon as the wind rises, the branches of the neighbouring trees become interwoven, and then the Sloth seizes hold of them, and pursues his journey in safety. There is seldom an entire day of calm in these forests. The trade wind generally sets in about ten o'clock in the morning, and thus the Sloth may set off after breakfast, and get a considerable way before dinner. He travels at a good round pace; and were you to see him pass from tree to tree, as I have done, you would never think of calling him a Sloth. "Thus it would appear that the different histories we have of this quadruped, are erroneous on two accounts: first, that the writers of them, deterred by difficulties and local annoyances, have not paid sufficient attention to him in his native haunts; and secondly, they have described him in a situation in which he was I never intended by nature to cut a figure; I mean on the ground. The Sloth is as much at a loss to proceed on his journey upon a smooth and level floor, as a man would be who had to walk a mile in stilts upon a line of feather-beds. "One day, as we were crossing the Essequibo, I saw a large two-toed Sloth on the ground upon the bank; how he got there nobody could tell the Indian said he had never surprized the sloth in such a situation before; he would hardly have come there to drink, for both above and below the place, the branches of the trees touched the water, and afforded him an easy and safe access to it. Be this as it may, though the trees were not above twenty yards from him, he could not make his way through the sand time enough to escape before we landed. As soon as we got up to him, he threw himself on his back, and defended himself in gallant style with his fore legs. Come, poor fellow,' said I to him, if thou hast got into a hobble to-day, thou shalt not suffer for it: I'll take no advantage of thee in misfortune; the forest is large enough both for thee and me to rove in go thy ways up above, and enjoy thyself in these endless wilds; it is more than probable thou wilt never have another interview with man. So, fare thee well.' On saying this, I took up a large stick which was lying there, held it for him to hook on, and then conveyed him to a high and stately mora. He ascended with wonderful rapidity, and in about a minute he was almost at the top of the tree. He now went off in a side direction, and caught hold of the branch of a neighbouring tree; he then proceeded towards the heart of the forest; I stood looking on, lost in amazement at his singular mode of progress. I followed him with my eye till the intervening branches closed in betwixt us; and then I lost sight for ever of the two-toed Sloth. I was going to add, that I never saw a Sloth take to his heels in such earnest, but the expression will not do, for the Sloth has no heels." "SOUTH America produces three species of animals, with a long snout, a small mouth, and no teeth; their tongues, of a round form, are remarkably long; with which they catch the ants, which are their principal food. On coming to an ant hill, the animal scratches it up with his claws, and then protrudes his slender tongue, which has the appearance of an exceedingly long earth-worm. It is covered with a viscous saliva. To this the ants adhere, and, by retracting it, he swallows thousands of them. He also tears up the nests of wood-lice, and often climbs the trees in pursuit of them, and of the wild bees and their honey. The first of these Ant-eaters is that which the Brazilians call Tamandua Guacu, or Great Tamandua, to whom the French settled in America have given the name of Tamanoir. The English call it the Great Ant-eater. This animal is about four feet in length from the extremity of the snout to the origin of the tail; his head is fourteen or fifteen inches long, his snout stretches out to a great length; his tail, two feet and a half long, is covered with rough hair, which is more than a foot in length; his neck is short; his head narO; his eyes black and small; his ears round; his tongue thin, more than two feet long, which he folds again in his mouth, after he draws it entirely out. His legs are but one foot high; the fore-legs are a little higher and more slender than those behind; he has round feet; the fore feet are armed with four claws, the two middle ones are the longest; those behind have five claws. The hair of his head and body is black and white; this animal turns his tail up on his back, and covers with it his whole body, when he is inclined to sleep, or wants to shelter himself from the rain or the heat of the sun. The long hair of his tail and of his body is not round in all its extent; it is flat towards the end, and feels like dry grass. He waves his tail frequently and hastily when he is irritated, but it hangs down when he is composed, and he sweeps the way with it as he goes. The Tamanoir walks slowly; a man can easily overtake him in running: his feet seem less calculated to walk than to climb, and to fasten round bodies; and he holds so fast a branch or stick, that it is not possible to snatch either from him. "The second of these animals is that which the Americans call Tamandua. He is much smaller than the Tamanoir; he is not above eighteen inches from the extremities of the snout to the rump: his head is five inches long, his snout crooked, and underneath flat and long; he has a tail ten inches long, without hair at the end; his ears are erect, and about an inch in length; his tongue is round, eight inches long, and placed in a sort of gutter or hollow canal within the lower jaw; his legs are not above four inches in height, his feet are of the same form, and have the same number of claws as the Tamanoir. He climbs up and holds fast a branch or stick, like the Tamanoir, and his march is equally slow. He does not cover himself with his tail, which cannot shelter him, being almost bare; the hair of the fore-part is shorter than that of the Tamanoir; when he sleeps he hides his head under his neck and his fore legs. "The third of these animals is that which the naturalists of Guiana call Watiriwaou; and the French Fourmillier, or Ant-eater. He is still much smaller than the Tamandua, being not above six or seven inches in length from the extremity of the snout to the tail; his head is two inches long; the snout is not near so long as that of the Tamanoir, or the Tamandua; his tail is seven inches in length, is bent underneath, and bare at the end: his tongue is narrow, long, and flat; his neck is almost bare; the head is large, in proportion to the body; his eyes placed low, at a little distance from the corners of the mouth; his ears are small, and hidden by the hair; his legs are but three inches in height; the fore feet have no more than two claws, the outward is much longer than the inward one; the hind feet have four claws; the hair of the body is about nine inches long; he feels smooth, his colour is shining, diversified with red and yellow; his feet are not made to walk, but to climb up, and to take hold of branches of trees, on which he hangs himself by the extremity of his tail. "These three animals, so different in size and oportions of the body, have, nevertheless, many tgs in common, as to conformation and their natural instinct. All three feed upon ants, and suck honey and ner liquid and viscous substances; they gather quickly crumbs of bread and small pieces of meat; they are tamed and domesticated easily; they can stist a long while without food; they do not swallow all the liquor which they keep in their mouth, one part of it issues out of their nostrils; they commonly sleep in the day-time, and change their statior in the night; they go so slowly, that a man may overtake them easily whilst running in open ground. The savages eat their flesh, which has, however, an unsavoury taste. "The Tamanoir looks at a distance like a great fox, and for that reason some travellers call him the American fox: he is strong enough to def] himself against a large dog, and even a jaguar; when he is attacked he fights standing on his hind legs, lie the bear, and makes use of his forc clavs, which are murdering weapons, for his protection; afterwards he lies on his back to use his hind legs, ard in this situation he is almost invincible; he fights with obstinacy till the last extremity, and even after ne has put his adversary to death, he keeps hold of him a long wile. He is covered with long bushy hair, and a very thick skin; besides, his flesh is remarkably hard, and he seldom loses his life in these engagements. "The Tamanoir, the Tamandua, and the Fourmillier, are natives of the hottest climates only of America; they are found in Brazil, in Guiana, and in the country of the Amazons, &c. They do not breed in Canada, nor in the other frozen regions of the New World, and do not belong consequently to the Ancient Continent." |