Frank Radcliffe; a story of travel and adventure in the forests of Venezuela . ess cruelty that I felt no repugnance at witnessingthe death-struggles of our victim. As not a yearpasses but a human life is sacrificed by their ferocity,we both felt it a duty to shoot as many as we the rainy season had not commenced, therewere hundreds of the reptiles in every few miles ofthe river, and thousands were still lying torpid in themud of the savannas, waiting to be wakened by thewarm deluges of the rainy season. The capybara or chiguire {Hydrochcerus caj^yhara)furnishes the alligators w
Frank Radcliffe; a story of travel and adventure in the forests of Venezuela . ess cruelty that I felt no repugnance at witnessingthe death-struggles of our victim. As not a yearpasses but a human life is sacrificed by their ferocity,we both felt it a duty to shoot as many as we the rainy season had not commenced, therewere hundreds of the reptiles in every few miles ofthe river, and thousands were still lying torpid in themud of the savannas, waiting to be wakened by thewarm deluges of the rainy season. The capybara or chiguire {Hydrochcerus caj^yhara)furnishes the alligators with many a meal. This isan amphibious animal, and while in the water easilyfalls a prey to the reptiles. We witnessed the pas-sage of a drove of these animals across the Apurethat were pursued to the waters edge by a jaguar,which managed to secure one of them; and whileswimming across the river, the wretched animals wereattacked by several alligators, which each opened itsgaping jaws, and with a swirl of the tail that madethe water boil for yards around dived with its THE CAPYBABA. 113 The survivors, as if accustomed to such treatment,landed, and quietly walked along the banks, finallydisappearing up the nearest game-path. The capybara belongs to the genus hydrochcBvidce,which literally signifies the species luater-hog. It isvery common along most of the rivers in tropicalSouth America, and is the largest rodent in the ordinary dimensions are about three feet eightinches in length, but many specimens have been mea-sured from five to six inches longer than this. Theteeth in its upper jaw are grooved in front. Itsgrinding teeth seem formed of several layers orlaminae, from which circumstance the eminent natu-ralist Cuvier detected its relationship to the elephant. The capybara is practically devoid of a hairy coat,its pig-like skin being thinly covered with longscanty hairs. It is a herbivorous animal, and subsistsentirely on fruits and other vegetable production
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1884
