Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/251

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CHAPTER III.

Natural History,—Productions,—Physical Geography,—Rivers and Lakes,—Diseases,—Idiotcy.


Every part of the United Provinces invites the attention of the naturalist to a field, in which scarcely any investigations have, as yet, been made. In the zoological department, may be found a species of lion, without mane,—the tiger, or, rather, the jaguar,—the manati, tapir, and wild boar,—the bear, and the wolf,—monkeys of every description, liom the most diminutive of all their tribes, to the great baboon, bold and powerful enough to combat man,—stags, squirrels, and all the domestic animals, besides many others, peculiar to the country, and undescribed by naturalists.

Of the ornithology still less is known; an infinite variety of the feathered tribe, including, it is supposed, near two hundred species, found only in these parts of the New World, and comprising