ed with
interest. Guapo knew a good deal about these curious creatures, for he
had eaten many a dozen of them in his time, and as many different kinds
of them too. Their feeding upon carrion had no effect on Guapo's
stomach, and, indeed, white people in South America relish them as much
as Indians. The white people, however, make a distinction in the
species, as they suppose some kinds to be more disposed to a vegetable
diet than others. There are some in the neighbourhood of the
settlements, that _occasionally pay a visit to the graveyards or
cemeteries_, and these kinds do not go down well. All of them will
devour almost any sort of trash that is soft and pulpy, and they are
more destructive to the ant than even the ant-eaters themselves. How
so? Because, instead of making a nice little hole in the side of the
ant-hill, as the tamanoirs do, and through this hole eating the ants
themselves, the armadillos break down a large part of the structure and
devour the _larva_. Now the ants love these _larva_ more than their own
lives, and when these are destroyed, they yield themselves up to
despair, refuse to patch up the building, the rain gets in, and the
colony is ruined and breaks up.

It does not follow, however, that the flesh of the armadillo should be
"queer" because the animal itself eats queer substances. Among
carnivorous creatures the very opposite is sometimes the truth; and some
animals--as the tapir, for instance--that feed exclusively on sweet and
succulent vegetables, produce a most bitter flesh for themselves. About
this there is no standing law either way.

The flesh of the armadillo is excellent eating, not unlike young pork,
and, when "roasted in the shell" (the Indian mode of cooking it), it is
quite equal, if not superior, to a baked "pig," a dish very much eaten
in our own country.

Guapo did not call them armadillos--he had several Indian names for
different kinds of them. "Armadillo" is the Spanish name, and signifies
the "little armed one," the diminutive of "armado" or "armed." This
name is peculiarly appropriate to these animals, as the hard bony casing
which covers the whole upper parts of their bodies, bears an exceeding
resemblance to the suits of plate armour worn in the days of Cortez and
chivalry.

On the head there is the helmet, the back is shielded by a corslet, and
even the limbs are covered with greaves. Of course, this armour is
arranged differently in the different s