Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/201

 its courage. Of the Jaguar they give a very different account.

The only species of monkey I met with at Caripí was the same dark-coloured little Midas already mentioned as found near Pará. The great Ant-eater, Tamanduá of the natives (Myrmecophaga jubata), was not uncommon here. After the first few weeks of residence I ran short of fresh provisions. The people of the neighbourhood had sold me all the fowls they could spare; I had not yet learnt to eat the stale and stringy salt-fish which is the staple food in these places, and for several days I had lived on rice-porridge, roasted bananas, and farinha. Florinda asked me whether I could eat Tamanduá. I told her almost anything in the shape of flesh would be acceptable, so the same day she went with an old negro named Antonio and the dogs, and in the evening brought one of the animals. The meat was stewed and turned out very good, something like goose in flavour. The people at Caripí would not touch a morsel, saying it was not considered fit to eat in these parts; I had read, however, that it was an article of food in other countries of South America. During the next two or three weeks, when we were short of fresh meat, Antonio was always ready, for a small reward, to get me a Tamanduá. But one day he came to me in great distress mth the news that his favourite dog, Atrevido, had been caught in the grip of an ant-eater, and was killed. We hastened to the place, and found the dog was not dead, but severely torn by the claws of the animal, which itself was mortally wounded, and was now relaxing its grasp.