Buffon's Natural History. Volume 07 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 07 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
excrement, in their common apartment, she immediately took an aversion
to him, and retired to the bottom of an old press, making herself a bed
with paper and rags, nor would she return to her house again, until she
perceived it was cleared of the dirt and her filthy companion."
The Paca very easily becomes domesticated, and is very gentle and
tractable, unless when much irritated. He is very fond of being
noticed, and will lick the hands of those who caress him; he very
readily distinguishes the voices of those who take care of him, and
when stroked on the back, he will lie down on his belly, stretch
himself out, and, with a gentle cry, express his gratitude for the
favour, and seem to ask a continuance; but if laid hold of in a rough
manner, he will struggle violently to escape. His muscles are very
strong, yet his feeling is so delicate that the slightest touch on
the skin will excite in him the most sensible emotions; and which
sensibility, though commonly producing good humour, will sometimes,
by irritation, or presenting an offensive object, put him in the most
violent passion. A strange dog invariably produces the latter effect;
and he has been observed, when shut in his cage, to make violent
efforts to get out upon the appearance of one. It was at first thought
he had no desire to come out but upon natural occasions; but one day,
when he was at liberty, he flew out upon a poor dog, and bit him very
severely; but in a few days after he became perfectly familiar with
the same dog. He will also fly at strangers, if they plague him, but
he never offers to bite those by whom he is taken care of. He has a
dislike to children, and will run after them; and when in a passion he
makes a kind of grunting, and at the same time a chattering with his
teeth. He very frequently sits for a considerable time together on his
posteriors, and has a common practice of appearing to comb his head
and whiskers with his paws, which he repeatedly licks with his tongue.
When thus employed, he scratches all parts of his body which he can
reach with his fore paws, and afterwards the remainder with his hind
ones. He is, however, a gross animal; he does not appear delicate;
his coat is not smooth; he is far from active, but moves heavily and
somewhat like a hog; whom he also resembles by the whiteness and
thickness of his skin; he seldom attempts to run, and when he does, it
is very aukwardly.
This animal, though not full grown, measured more than eighteen
inches from the point of his nose to the extremity of his body, and
he could stretch himself out to near two feet, while the one which I
formerly described was not more than seven inches five lines, and this
difference was evidently to be attributed to their ages, as in all
other respects they were perfectly similar.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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