the Count de BufFon’s defcription*, where it is faid u not c h a p ,
« to be nimble, to run but feidom, and then with a bad . xx ' ,
« grace ;* which may all be the cafe in a domeflic ftate (for
the Baca is capable o f being tamed) but he is not flugghh
in a ffcate o f nature. This I know to be true, having
Peen him run like a hare. We had this animal dreflèd
for fupper, and found him even more delicious than the_
wood-rat, or even the warra-bofena: indeed, nothing can
be better eating than the Paca or fpotted Cavy.
T h e fong-nofed £avy, better known by the name o f the
Jigouti Pacaram, or Indian Cvney, is alfo very common in
Surinam : this is t he'fire q f a large rabbity its colour is an
orange brown, the belly yellow; the legs black and dender,
with four foes on the fore-feet, and three on the
hinder-moist; the -ears fmall, the eyes a bright b lack, the
upper lip divided; it has whifkers, and its 'ta ilis like
that o f t h e Paca, This animal breeds very faft, and fuckles
its ym®ag9 which 'are three or four in number, in concealed
holes o f q|d trees, See. where i t alfo retires for fhel-
ter i f purfued v but It^does not €eek its food in the earth,
like the former. The Agouti is cafily tamed, ami feeds
on fmits, roots,-huts, &*e. But M le f li, though very
good, is not fo dé&ibious as that o f the Paca.
In Surinam I have been told thexeis ftifl another fpedes
o f the Agouti, called the Indian Rat-Cvney, on account of
its having a long tail. This 1 never Faw, unlefs it is the
* See Buffon’s Natural Hiftory, Vol. V. page 39.
m 11. X fame