The Agouti, or Indian Coney.
The Paca, or Spotted Cavey.
London, Published Decr. 1st, 1791, by J. Johnson, St. Paul’s Church Yard.
At this time a small quadruped running through the camp with incredible swiftness, it was cut down by one of the rangers with his sabre. This proved to be the Paca or Spotted Cavey, called in Surinam the Aquatic Hare. This animal is the size of a sucking pig, and extremely fat. The under jaw is short, the nostrils large, the eyes black, and the ears small and naked. It has five toes on each foot, a tail like the first joint of a man’s thumb, and whiskers like a cat; the colour is an earthen brown, with longitudinal rows of buff-coloured spots; the belly is a dirty white, the hair all over coarse and short. The Paca is an amphibious animal. On land it digs up the earth like a hog in quest of food, and when in danger flies to the water for its safety; notwithstanding this animal is so very plump and heavy, it runs swifter than most other animals of its size in South America, contrary to the account given of it in the supplement to [[153]]the Count de Buffon’s description[4], where it is said “not to be nimble, to run but seldom, and then with a bad a grace;” which may all be the case in a domestic state (for the Paca is capable of being tamed) but he is not sluggish in a state of nature. This I know to be true, having seen him run like a hare. We had this animal dressed for supper, and found him even more delicious than the wood-rat, or even the warra-bocerra: indeed, nothing can be better eating than the Paca or spotted Cavy.
The long-nosed Cavy, better known by the name of the Agouti Pacarara, or Indian Coney, is also very common in Surinam: this is the size of a large rabbit, its colour is an orange brown, the belly yellow; the legs black and slender, with four toes on the fore-feet, and three on the hindermost; the ears small, the eyes a bright black, the upper lip divided; it has whiskers, and its tail is like that of the Paca. This animal breeds very fast, and suckles its young, which are three or four in number, in concealed holes of old trees, &c. where it also retires for shelter if pursued; but it does not seek its food in the earth, like the former. The Agouti is easily tamed, and feeds on fruits, roots, nuts, &c. But its flesh, though very good, is not so delicious as that of the Paca.
In Surinam I have been told there is still another species of the Agouti, called the Indian Rat-Coney, on account of its having a long tail. This I never saw, unless it is the [[154]]same animal (which I apprehend it to be) that I have described under the name of the bush-rat.
On the 27th we again broke up, and finally arrived in the forenoon, and in a forlorn condition, at the estate Soribo, on the river Pirica, to defend the plantations against Bonny and his rebel negroes.
The river Pirica by its many windings is thought to extend about three-score miles. It is very deep but narrow, and has its banks, like all the others, lined with fine coffee and sugar plantations; its general course is from S. E. to N. W. We were scarcely arrived at this post, than I was accosted by several deputies from Colonel Seyburg, who earnestly intreated that I would only acknowledge myself to have been in fault, assuring me that I should then be set at liberty, and all would be forgotten. As I was conscious, however, of my own innocence, I could not in common justice criminate myself in an instance, where even my alledged crime amounted to no more than an anxious solicitude for the poor men and the provisions who were entrusted to my care. I was, therefore, placed under the guard of a sentinel, for what my commander was pleased to term unpliant stubbornness, and disarmed. In the mean time the marines caused me fresh uneasiness, and of the most poignant kind, by loudly threatening to mutiny in my behalf; nor could any thing have prevented them, but my decisive declaration, that as no cause could justify military disobedience and rebellion, I should be under the necessity myself (however injurious [[155]]to my feelings) of taking an active part against them, and seeing the ringleaders brought to condign punishment. I felt that at this time I could war with all the world, and nearly with myself—my heart was breaking apace—my life became a burden:
“Dependants, friends, relations, love himself,
Savag’d by woe, forget the tender tie,