This region is wholly undisturbed, the few “pork-knockers” and Indians who pass keeping entirely to the river. Mr. Nicholson told us that Capybaras (_Hydrochoerus capybara_) came every night and raided the vegetable garden, and we had good evidence of this. Pushing through the bush a short distance downstream at dusk, we saw a small herd of these creatures appear and distribute themselves over the banks. Some waded along the shallows, or swam out and dived, to come up with a mouthful of algæ. Others climbed the clay slope and disappeared into the jungle. They seemed like reincarnations of some of the great unwieldy prehistoric beasts—restorations of those bones by which alone we know of their existence in past ages. It was too dark to photograph these giant rodents, but by the kindness of Dr. Bingham we are able to show several splendid photographs of Capybaras, taken in their haunts. [Illustration: FIG. 108. A HERD OF EIGHT CAPYBARAS, SIX ADULT AND TWO YOUNG. Notice the Snout of a Crocodile in the Water on the Left. (Photo by Bingham.)] The Indian hunter at Matope finds abundance of game within a mile of the house; two kinds of deer, tapir, peccary, and of course Curassows and Guans. Trumpeters[25] are often heard from the house but are considered too tough for food. We talked, chiefly by signs, with the Arowak Indian hunter who had just come in with a Bush-hog or Peccary (_Dicotyles tajacu_). As soon as the animal is killed, the gland on the lower back is cut out, a piece of skin being removed about four by eight inches. If this is not done immediately, the flesh will become musky and unfit to eat. The hunter was familiar with the rare White-lipped Peccary (_Dicotyles labiatus_), which he described as larger than the common kind and going in small families of two to five individuals. This was a dangerous animal, and more than once he had been treed by them, whereas the Common Peccary was timid and harmless except when wounded or cornered. Mr. Nicholson had recently seen a full-grown Great Anteater (_Myrmecophaga jubata_) swimming the river, and curiously enough we later witnessed a similar performance where the banks were about a third of a mile apart. The creature was making fair headway, although drifting rapidly, and was completely immersed save for the elongated snout and head, and the upper part of the bushy tail, which waggled frantically with the efforts the anteater was making.