sway. Among these partially subdued creatures were schools of fishes and herds of ruminants corraled to be killed ad libitum. Around nearly every southwestern pueblo there are cages for the incarceration of wild creatures, and the snakes for their ceremonies are gathered in pits. The Mexicans made special houses for birds and beasts. E. F. im Thurn calls attention to the interminable chatter of pets about the Indian habitations in Guiana, and says the racoon (Nasua socialis) is more often seen tame than wild. The peccary was partly tamed both in Mexico and on the Amazon. The whole subject of domestication on the western continent has been laboriously worked out by Payne.[1]
III. PROCESSES IN ZOÖTECHNY
The third division of zoötechny embraces all the activities included in the disposal of animals after they are in hand.
It was mentioned in the beginning of the section on "Capture" that a great many of the animals taken by savages are eaten on the spot, but even of this simple harvest much is carried away, and this involves, therefore, the methods of carrying in use from region to region, and hence the vast array of transportation utensils. On the waters, frequently the freight boat is different from the hunting boat; on the land, in the Arctic region, the small freight sled is much clumsier than the traveling sled, and here we have the origin of sleds and of shipbuilding. The pack-saddle and travois for dogs were used by the hunters chiefly in conveying their game, and it would not be difficult to find in any museum a collection of hunters' devices for bringing home the fruit of their labors. Even the special craft for fishing are modified so that the hunter may not only take his game, but may freight it home.
The butcher's art of cutting up the carcass, and the smoking
- ↑ Payne, Edward John, History of the New World called America, Oxford, 1892, vol. I, pp. 311-331. Consult also B. Langkavel, Hunde und Naturvölker (Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie, Leiden, 1895, vol. viii, pp. 109-149), with copious bibliography.
