d the little village of Mayumarca,
which has been abandoned for more than a hundred years, as it was found
that the jaguars annually decimated the inhabitants; this Quebrada is
still in such bad repute that not a single Indian will venture into it.

There is a black variety of the ounce, by many erroneously regarded as a
distinct species. It has the identical marks of the common jaguar, or
ounce, only its color is a dark, blackish-brown, whereby the whole of
the black spots are rendered indistinct. On the lower banks of the
Ucayali and the Maranon this dark variety is more frequently met with
than in the higher forests; in the Montanas of Huanta and Urubamba it is
also not uncommon. It is upon the whole larger, stronger, and more
daring than the lighter kind, and I have actually seen many black
skins which exceeded the usual length; but of specific distinctions
there is no indication. The superstitious Indians assign extraordinary
powers to everything that departs from the common course; the black
ounce is, accordingly, supposed to possess singular properties. The
yana chinca holds a prominent place in the religious ceremonies of
some of the Indian races.

Turning from these fierce natives of the forest, we will now take a
glimpse at the peaceful inhabitants of those umbrageous regions. In
the hollow stems of trees, or among their canopied branches, are found
the timid marsupial animals (_Did. impavida_, and _noctivaga_, Tsch.).
These animals remain in obscure holes until the sun sinks beneath the
horizon, when they slip out in search of insects and fruit. Not
unfrequently they penetrate into the slightly guarded Indian huts,
creeping into every corner, until at last they are caught in traps
baited with pieces of banana and pine-apple. The lofty
_Terebinthaceae_, with their walnut-like fruit, are inhabited by
swarms of squirrels, which strongly remind the European of his own
woods. Numbers of the mouse family, from the small tree-mouse
(_Drymomys parvulus_, Tsch.) to the large, loathsome, spinous rat
(_Echinomys leptosoma_, Wagn.) swarm over all the Montanas, and love
to approximate to the dwellings of man. These animals destroy the
gathered harvest, and even in these remote regions they become a
plague. It is a striking fact, that certain animals are almost
inseparable from man. They keep with him, or follow him wherever he
settles. The mouse genus is one of these. On the coast, mice are not
the same as on the mounta