Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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The Apida, Which Is
Domesticated Like Our Swine In Europe, Wanders In Large Herds Composed
Of Several Hundreds.
The presence of these herds is announced from
afar, not only by their hoarse gruntings, but above all by the
impetuosity with which they break down the shrubs in their way.
M.
Bonpland, in an herborizing excursion, warned by his Indian guide to
hide himself behind the trunk of a tree, saw a number of these
peccaries (cochinos or puercos del monte) pass close by him. The herd
marched in a close body, the males proceeding first; and each sow was
accompanied by her young. The flesh of the chacharo is flabby, and not
very agreeable; it affords, however, a plentiful nourishment to the
natives, who kill these animals with small lances tied to cords. We
were assured at Atures, that the tiger dreads being surrounded in the
forests by these herds of wild pigs; and that, to avoid being stifled,
he tries to save himself by climbing up a tree. Is this a hunter's
tale, or a fact that has really been observed? In several parts of
America the hunters believe in the existence of a javali, or native
boar with tusks curved outwardly. I never saw one, but this animal is
mentioned in the works of the Spanish missionaries, a source too much
neglected by zoologists; for amidst much incorrectness and
extravagance, they contain many curious local observations.
Among the monkeys which we saw at the mission of the Atures, we found
one new species, of the tribe of sais and sajous, which the Creoles
vulgarly call machis.
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