Manner of Sleeping &c. in the Forest.
Rural Retreat—The Cottage—
London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.
At last, on the 29th, six barges came to an anchor before our encampment, with part of the fresh troops that were arrived from Holland for our relief; which I could not [[325]]help viewing with compassion, and not without a cause, many of them being already attacked with the scurvy, and other loathsome diseases. We however sent for bricks, and built an oven to bake fresh bread, &c. and did all that was in our power to comfort them: having received also a supply of wine for my own use, I gave a hearty welcome to all the officers, to cheer their spirits; but this ill-fated liquor had an effect far different from what I intended on one of our captains, P——t by name, who, from some misunderstanding, challenged me to fight him instantly. Having retired to some distance from the camp, and drawing our sabres, he burst out into an immoderate fit of laughter, and throwing away his weapon, desired me “to cut away; but that for his part he had such a real regard for me, that he felt it was impossible for him to make any resistance:” after which, catching me in both his arms, he gave me so hearty an embrace, that he had nearly stifled me, and I could not without the greatest difficulty get disentangled. Being recovered from my surprize, I could not help smiling in my turn; and after a friendly reprimand re-conducted my valiant opponent to the company, where we closed the year with the greatest mirth and conviviality.
A confounded tumble through my hammock having ushered in the morning of 1777, we went to the commanding officer of the camp, to pay him the compliments of the season; where I was shown the philander, [[326]]or Mexican oppossum, here called awaree, which had been just taken alive, and with all its young.
I have already mentioned the murine oppossum; thus shall now only describe such peculiarities as I was able to remark, and which were indeed but few in number, the animal being in the bottom of an empty hogshead when I saw it, its biting preventing me to take it in my hand.—In the first place, it was much larger than the former, this being the size of an over-grown Norway rat: the colour was a yellowish grey all over, and the belly and limbs a dirty white; the muzzle was more blunt than that of the murine oppossum, with long whiskers; its eyes not black but transparent, with a black ring round the iris; the tail extremely long, thick, and hairy, particularly near the root, and its smell was very offensive. This oppossum had a pouch under its belly, formed by the folding of the skin, which is hairy within as well as without; from this pouch I saw the young ones (five or six in number) several times run out, when the mother was not disturbed, and as often run into it upon the smallest noise, or shaking the hogshead.—As I pitied the poor creature, after its having been so long tormented, I suddenly kicked up the hogshead, when the oppossum with all its young escaped, and ran swiftly up a very high tree before Colonel Seyburg’s cottage, and there it hung by the tail to one of the branches; but as it is a dreadful destroyer of poultry, and the Colonel apprehended that [[327]]it would kill every one of his fowls, he ordered it, to my sorrow, to be shot down, with all its young ones.—The Virginian oppossum I never saw; and my only further remark on this shall be, that its activity very much surprized me, as many writers have denied it this quality. For further particulars, I refer the reader to the murine or mouse oppossum above-mentioned, as in most circumstances these two animals perfectly agree.
Among the destroyers of poultry, there is another animal in this country, known by the name of quacy-quacy: some call it the racoon, but which properly is the coatimondi, or Brasilian weasel; though many people, with some degree of propriety, compare it to a fox, as it is often able to carry away a goose or a turkey, and is also extremely cunning. This creature is sometimes near two feet long, the body shaped like that of a dog, and commonly black, or rather dark brown, though many are of a bright bay colour: the tail is long, hairy, and annulated with black, and a deep buff; the breast and belly are a dirty white; the head is a light brown, with long jaws, and a black snout that projects upwards for near two inches, and is moveable like that of the tapira; the eyes are small, the ears are short and rounded, while on each side a curved stripe connects them and the muzzle; the legs of the coati are short, especially the foremost; the feet are very long, with five toes on each, and long claws, while the animal, like the bear, always walks on the heel, and stands on those behind. No quadrupeds (the monkies [[328]]not excepted) are better climbers on the trees, where these creatures commit dreadful ravages amongst birds-nests, every small animal which they can conquer becoming their prey. In the poultry-yards in particular they commit great devastations, on which account every contrivance that can be invented is put in practice to destroy them.
As I am upon the subject of animals, before I leave the woods I must describe another creature, which inhabits them, and which (though more than twice the size of the last) lives chiefly on ants; this is the great ant-eater, or ant-bear, called also the tamanoir, and by the Spaniards the osa palmera. The body of this animal is covered over with very long shaggy hair; on the back and belly it is black, and on the neck and sides a grey or yellowish white; the head is extremely long and slender, of a light bay colour, with very small eyes; the ears are short and round, and the mouth (which has no teeth) just large enough to admit its tongue; the tail is of an enormous size, with very long black hair, something like that of a horse: with this extraordinary tail, when asleep (which is generally in the day time, or during a hard shower of rain) the animal covers itself like a squirrel; at other times he trails it along, and sweeps the ground. The limbs are slender, but covered with long hair; the hindmost legs being shortest and black, with five claws; those before are of a dirty white, with but four claws, the two middle claws being of an extraordinary length. [[329]]
