and macanas (clubs). The people were warlike, for their chiefs were continually at war with each other respecting boundaries. There are quantities of deer, and of swine which are different from those of Spain, and they go in large herds. They have no tails, and they do not grunt, even when they are killed. They have something resembling a navel on their backs.[1]
The chiefs had grounds, where they went to hunt in summer. They lighted fires to windward, and, as the grass is high, the fires were great. The Indians were placed in readiness to leeward, and as the stags fled half blinded with the smoke, the fire obliged them to go where the Indians waited with their darts pointed with stones. Few of the animals that fled from the fire, escaped the darts. They have no other game in these provinces excepting birds, of which there are two kinds
- ↑ These are the peccaries. They have no tail, and no external toe to the hind feet. Upon the back they have a glandular opening, from which issues a fetid excretion. This gland was mistaken by Andagoya and many other old writers for a navel. (See Cieza de Leon, p. 37, and Alonzo Enriquez, p. 89.) The peccary is more easily tamed than the wild boar of Europe and Asia. Azara says that the flesh is good, but that it is necessary to cut off the dorsal gland immediately after death, or it will taint the whole body. The Indians, however, eat peccaries without taking this precaution. The head of a peccary is shorter and thicker than that of a common pig, and the body, neck, and legs shorter. Their bristles are very stiff. There are two species, the common and the white lipped peccary. The former go in large herds conducted by a male leader, the latter in pairs or in small numbers. The best account of the peccary is to be found in the work of Don Felix d' Azara.
Acosta speaks "of the little pigs of the Indies with that strange peculiarity of having a navel on their backs. They are cruel," he says, "and fearless, and they have tusks as sharp as razors, with which they deal out awkward stabs and cuts. Those who hunt them take refuge in the trees, and the pigs bite the trunks with rage, when they cannot get at the men, who throw darts at them. They are very good eating, but it is necessary to cut out the navel on the back at once, or otherwise the whole carcass will be tainted within a day." Historia Natural de Indias, lib. iv, cap. 38. See also Herrera, dec. ii, lib. ii, cap. 4.
