Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/254

Rh these prickles or points, from their exceeding minuteness may be insinuated into the pores of the skin, may enlarge them, and may penetrate them so deep, as to command a flow of blood by the continued suction of the tongue. But we can only conjecture upon a fact, of which all the circumstances are imperfectly known to us, and of which some are perhaps exaggerated, or erroneously related by the writers who have transmitted them to us.” Of the mischievous properties of this ugly and deformed animal, there can however be no doubt. To the testimony of M. de la Condamine, referred to by M. Buffon, may be added that of numerous Americans, who have seen it fixed on the neck of mules, and attacking the nostrils of man. The reasoning of M. Buffon, as to the mode in which it effects its purpose, will not hold with regard to the species found in Guatimala; since after a most careful examination, no prickles could be seen upon the tongue. The teeth are remarkably long, and smoothly pointed, and with these there can be no doubt, it opens the vein, employing the tongue merely as a sucker.

The Zorrilla a species of pole cat, sometimes approaches the houses, and emits a smell so fetid, as to be almost insupportable. I have only experienced the odour from a distance, but found it powerful enough to sicken the stomach for some hours.