EXPEDITION
TO
SURINAM.
327
it would kill every one of his fowls, he ordered it, to my CHAP. forrow, to be shot down, with all its young ones.—The XXVIII. Virginian oppoffum I never saw; and my only further remark on this shall be, that its activity very much furprized me, as many writers have denied it this quality. For further particulars, I refer the reader to the murine or mouse oppoffum above-mentioned, as in molt circumstances thefe two animals perfectly agree. Among the destroyers of poultry, there is another animal in this country, known by the name of quacy-quacy: some call it the racoon, but which properly is the coatimondi, or Brasilian weasel; though many people, with fome degree of propriety, compare it to a fox, as it is often able to carry away a goofe or a turkey, and is also extremely cunning. This creature is fometimes near two feet long, the body fhaped like that of a dog, and commonly black, or rather dark brown, though many are of a bright bay colour : the tail is long, hairy, and annulated with black, and a deep buff; the breast and belly are a dirty white; the head is a light brown, with long jaws, and a black fnout that projects upwards for near two inches, and is moveable like that of the tapira; the eyes are small, the ears are short and rounded, while on each fide a curved stripe connects them and the muzzle ; the legs of the coati are fhort, efpecially the foremost ; the feet are very long, with five toes on each, and long claws, while the animal, like the bear, always walks on the heel, and stands on thofe behind. No quadrupeds (the monkies