as the _Dicotyles labiatus_, but an essential
difference was noticeable in the absence of the white lips that give the
name to that species; our enemies had black snouts and dark lips,
otherwise they corresponded in other points.

They had four incisors on the upper jaw, and six molars on each side
above and below; while the tusks, although smaller than a pig's, are
much finer and sharper, inclined slightly backward, and closely overlap
each other. Some of the bodies of the animals measured thirty-six inches
in length. They are more slender in build than the common pig, and
covered with long, stiff bristles, colored with alternate rings of gray,
light-brown, and black. These colors vary with the size and age of the
animals, and as either one predominates, they cause the animal to appear
either brown, gray, or black; the largest we found was almost entirely
black, whereas the smallest had quite a brown appearance.

During the battle I could not help noticing the apparent method of
their movements, as though they were led by chiefs. It appears that
their mode of attack on such an occasion as they favored us with is to
surround in silence, by a complete circle, the object to be stormed;
when, at a given signal, a simultaneous snapping of teeth takes place,
followed by a general converging rush to the centre, whereby the largest
and strongest reach the front first, and the smallest bring up the rear;
their retreat is carried out on an equally methodical system. There is a
small, red species known by the Guarany name of _caeitatu_;[B] our
friends are known by the Brazilian cognomen of _queixadas_, or _porcos
de matto_.

[Footnote B: _Dicotyles torquatos._]

From what I had witnessed during the past night, I can quite understand
how these courageous animals in large numbers are capable of surrounding
and destroying a powerful jaguar; and if my dog Feroz had fallen among
them, he would doubtless have made a brave fight, but he would not have
had the slightest chance of escape, and fortunately for us the ropes of
the hammocks did not break, as hammock-strings will sometimes do at
untoward moments, otherwise I should not be here now to tell this tale.

But now, from the camp-fire, comes the odor of roast peccary, for parts
of them were already roasting for breakfast, and emitting a vastly more
acceptable odor to what they did when alive. When ready, it is needless
to say that, after the long night and in the keen, dewy morni