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Show .. HISTORY OF ME X I C 0. 3s B 0 0 K I. ratter of their years. The wild cats, in fize much larger than the ' d eftic cats are fierce ~nd dangerous. The bears are all black, and 1 :;e corpul~nt than thofe which are brought from the Alps int.o Italy. The hares are dHl:inguilhed from thofe of Euro.Pe by the1r longer ears, and the wolves by a groifer head. Both fp~1es are plen .. tiful in that country. According to M. Buffon, we g1v~ the name Polatuca to the ~imickpatlan, or ~flying rat of the ~e~1cans. We call it rat, becaufe it refembles it in the head, though 1t IS much larger; and flying, becaufe in its natural ftate the fkin of its ~des ~s loofe and wrinkled, which it diftends and expands together w1th 1ts feet like wings when it makes any confiderable leap from tree to tree. The vulgar Spaniard confounds this quadruped with ~he common. fquirrel from their likenefs, but they are undoubtedly ddferent. M1ce were brought to Mexico in European fhips; the rat was not fo, but always known in Mexico by the name of ff<!Jimichin, which term they l.lfed metaphorically to their fpies. The quadrupeds which are common to Mexico and other regions of the new world, are the Cojametl, Epatl, feveral fptcies of apes, comprehended by the Spaniards under the generic name of Monos, the Ajotochtli, A ztacojot!, 'I7acuatzin, 'fechichi, 'fdalmotot1t~ 'fechallotl, Amir:.t!i, Mapach, and the Danta (f). The Cojame'tl, to which, from its refemblance to the wild boar, the Spaniards gave the name of Javali, or wild hog, is called in other countries of America Pecar, Saino, and 'faya.J!u. The gland it has in the cavity of its back from which a plentiful wheyilh . ftinking liquid diftil s, led the firft hiftorians of the country, and fince them many others into the miftaken belief that it produced hogs with their navels on their backs; and many ftill credit the abfurdity, although upwards of two centuries are elapfed fince anatomifts have evinced the (/) Many authors include. the Paco, or Peruvian ram, the Huanaco, the Vicogna, taruga, .and the floth, among!\ the &111mala of Mexico; but all there quadrupeds are peculiar to South and nQne of them to North America. It is true, Hernandez makes mention of the Pa(ll amongfi the quadrupeds of New Spain, gives a drawing of it, nnd makes 4fe of the Mexican name Pel~llidJ((I//; bu~ it waa on account of a few indh·idu:r\a which were prought there from Pe.ru, wh1ch the ~ex1.cans called by th&t nal'lle; in t~ f•mc manner as he dcfcribee fevcral anunal.a of the Phd1ppme lflea, not that therefore they had ever been bred in Mexico, or found m any country of North America, unlcft h WiU rom' individual ca~;ried there aa a 4:11riofity as they nrc carried into [urope. 1 error .. H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. ' .cr.for by dificfrion of the animal. Such is the difficulty of rooting out popular prejudices ! The flefh of. the Coj11metl is agreeable to eat, provided it is quickly killed, the gland cut out, and all the fl:inking liquid deancd from it; otherwife the whole meat becomes infected. The Epatl, by the Spaniards called Zorrillo, fmall fox, is lefs known in Europe by the beauty of its fk.in than the intolerable ftink it leaves behind when huntfmen are in clofe purfuit of it (g). The 'l'lacuatzin, which in other countries bears the ·names of Chin-cha, Sarigun, and Opqjjum, has been defcribed by many writers, and ·is much celebrated on account of the double Jkin to the belly in the female, which reaches from the beginning of the ftomach to the orifice of the womb, covering its teats, has an opening in the middle to a~mit. its young, where they are guarded and fuckled. In creeping, or clunbmg over the walls of houfes, it keeps the ikin difiended, with the entrance fhut, fo that itS' young cannot drop out; but when it wifhes to fend them abroad to begin to provide food for themfelves, or to let them re-enter either to be fuckled or fecured from danger, it opens the entrance by relaxing the fkin, difguifing her burden while 1he carries them, and her delivery every time fhe lets them out. This curious quadruped. is the deftroyer of all poultry. The .Ajotochtli, 'calJed by the Spaniards .Armadt"flo, or Encobe1'tadr;r and by others 'l'atu, is well known to E uropeans by the bony fcales which cover its back, refembling the ancient ·annour of horfcs. The Mexicans gave it the name of ./ljotochtli, from an imperfect Iikenefs it ?as to the rabbit, when it puts out its head and throws it back upon 1ts neck, while it fl1rinks under its fcales or fl1ell ( h). ( g ) .Mr. Buffon enumerates four fpecics of the Epatl under the generic nnme of Muuffiw. He o~fer ves nfterwardF, th at the t1o~~> firfl: which he name~ Cnafo and Cowpnta, arc from North Amer1cn, nnd the Chill<'ho llllU Zorrillo, which arc the two (.)thers, arc from South America. We .find no grounds ro be lieve thcfe four difre rent fpecics, but only four varieties of the f111ne fpec1cs. The ~arne Cottjo,. or fquafs taken from Dampier the n:tvigntor, whu. affirms tbc term to be c0mmon In New Spmn, was never heard of in all th at country. The Indians of Yu· cntam, w~ere th ~1 ~ navig-a tor was, c~ll that qtuulrupcd Pai. . (b) AJOtocht!J ts a w.o rd c?m~ou n ded of Ajotli, the back part of the head, aud 'f'urhtli, rab• btt. Buffot1 numbers e1ght fpccte~ of them under the name of 9"'ntout dlimatin1r their diflcrcnce from the num~cr of fcnles and moveable fubllnncea which cover ;hem. I c~nnot ·exattly fay how.many fpec .. ~s there m;ty be iti Mexico, having but n few individuals; as 1 did not think at the t11ne of wr1ung on thi3 fuhj etl, I was not curious to count their fcalc~, nor do' t know of any body who ever attended to fuch a firange kind of cli!linelion. But . ' |