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Show H I S T 0 R y 0 F M E X I C 0. Th's quadru.ped inhabits the folitary wo0ds of warm countries neat to r. 1 ·ver or lake as it lives not lefil in the water than on the land,. .1omAel ln the fpeE:ies 'o f monkies in that k'l ng do m, are k no wn by. the Mexl-cans under the general name of Ozomatli, and by the Spamards under that of J..,~r.J,.·o nos. Tl1 ey · at. c• of different fizes and figure, fome fmal. l ai1d uncommonly diverting ; fome middling, of the. fize of a badger; an d ot 11 ers 1a t .g e, ftout , fierce'. and bearded1 . whtch a·r e calhle d bdy ..rl. ome. z am bo s. Ther.e when they ftand upnght, whtch t cy o ll .d upon two legs, often equal the fiature of a.man. Amongfi the m1 • ling kind there are thofe which from havtng a dogs-hea?, belo~g to the clafs of the cynocephali,. althougb they are all furmlhed wtth a tail ( m ) • d 1 · 1 Wfth refpeC\: td the ant-killers, that is, thofe quadrupe s w 11c 1 are {o fingular for the enormous length of their fnout, the narrownefs of their throat, and immoderate tongue, \Yith which they draw .the ants out of their ant-hills, and from whence they have got thetr name :;. I have never feen any in that kingdom, nor do I kno~ that th~re are any there; but I believe it is no oth{:r tha~1 the aztacojotl, that 1s, cojete, ant-killer, mentioned·, but not defcnbed by Hernandez (n). The quadrup(tds which peculiarly belong to the .land of Anah~ac, whofe fpecies I do not know to have been found 111 South Am~n.ca, or in other countries of North America, exempt from1 the dom1mon: of Spain, are the Cojotl, ti:e Tl~/cqjo~l, Xol~z'tzcuintl:·, Tepet't zt:tt'ntli,. f tzcuintepotzotli., Ocotochtft; COJopollm, Tuz a, Ahuttz.otl, Fiuttztla-cuatzin, and perh~ps othet•s which we have not known. , The Coj~t!, or Coyoto,, as the Spaniards call it, is a wild beafi vo..racious like the wolf, cunning, like the. fox, in form like a dog, and in fome qualities like the Adive and the Chacal: from whence feveral (m) '!'he Cy nocc ph:~los of the :~nci e nt continent has no tni1 ns every one knows. Thcii· h:tl' ing been monkics found in the New \Vorld, which have the head of a ~og, and :trc fu rnlfhed with tails, Briil'on, in his clafs of :~pes , ju!lly :tpplies to thcnr of thu clafs the n:unc ;)f Cinoccphali Cercopitechi, :~nd ~i'vides them into two fpcci'cs. lluflon, among!l: the m:~ny f1'ecies of monkies wh'ch he dcfcribcs, omits this one. (11) We call thofc qu ~drupcd s , ant-killc ts, which the Spnniards term HornJigueros, and the f rench Fnurmi/lict· ; but the bear, ant-killers, defcribed hy Oviedo, arc certainly difterenc· from the Fourmillicrs of Buffon; for although they agree in the c:tting of atm, and in th eir ~ normou s toncrue and fn out, they are nevcrth clefs remarkably diOingu ifhed from each other as to tail, fo/'thofc of Buflon have an immcnfe tail, but Oviedo's none at all. The dcfc rip· ' ion which 0 1·iedo iivcs of their way of lnmting the ants is mofr fingul ar and curious. hiftorians H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. h1ltorians· have at one time judged it of one fpecies, at another time of anqther fpecies ; but it is unque!l:ionably difft:rcnt fi·om all thofc, as we .il1all demonfirate in our Difi(;rtations. I t is lef: than the wolf~ aud about the fize of a ma!l:iff, but Dendercr. It has yellow fparlding ~yes, · fmall ears pointed and ereCt, a blackifh fnou t, firong lin bs, and its feet :lrmed with large crooked nails. I ts tail thick and hairy, and its :fkin a mixture of black, brown, and white. Its voice hath both the howl of the wolf and the bark of the dog. The Coyoto is one of the mofi common quadrupeds of Mexico ( o), and the mofl: dc!l: ructive to the flocks. It invade a fheepfold, and when it cannot find a lamb to carry oft: it feizes a il1eep by the neck wjth . its teeth, and coupling with it, and beating it on thy n~mp with its tail, conduces it where it pleafes. It purfues the de,er, and fometim es attacks even men. In flight it does nothing in general but trot; but its trot is [o lively and fwift, that a horfe at the gallop can hardly overtake it. The Cuetlachcojotl appears to us to be a quadruped of the fame fpecies with the Coyoto, as it differs in nothing from it but being thicker in the neck, and having hair like the wolf. The Tlalcojotl, or Tlalcoy.oto, is of the :fize of a middling dog, but grofier in make, and, in our opinion, the large{!: quadruped of thofe which live under the earth. In the head it is fomething like the cat, and in colour and length of hair like the lion. It has a long thick tail, and feeds on poultry, and other little animals, which it hunts after in the obfcurity of the night. The Itz cuintepotz otli, and Tepuitzczdntli, and X oloitzcuintli, are three fpecies of quadrupeds fimilar to dogs. The l t zcuintapolz otli, or hunch-backed dog, is as large as a Maltefan dog, the lkin of which is varied with white, tawny, and black. Its head is fmall in proportion to its body, and appears to be joined c.lireCl:ly to it on q.ccount of the fhortnefs and greatnefs of its neck ; its eyes are pleafing, its ears loofe, its nofe has a confiderable prominence in the middle, and its tail fo fmall, that it hardly reaches half way down its leg; but the charaCl:erifiic of it is a great hunch which it bears from its neck to its .<o) Neither Bulfo.n nor Domarc make mention of the Coyoto, although the fpecics is one C>f the mofl: common and mo!l: numerous of Mexico, nnd amply dcfcribcd by Hcmander., whofe Nat ural HiHory they frequ ently quote. · ' G 2 rump. 43 BOOK r. ~ • |