. It
is not frightened by the noise of fire-arms, and when wounded is a
dangerous foe; but captured when young, it is easily tamed. It has a
higher back than the domestic hog, and cleanlier habits; an odoriferous
gland on the loins, and three-toed hind feet. We preserved the skins for
science and a ham for the table; the rest we gave to our crew and
fellow-voyagers, who devoured every thing, even the viscera. They sat
up late that night, around their camp-fire, cooking peccari meat: part
they parboiled in a pot, and some they roasted, skewered on sticks which
slanted over the flames; the rest they cured with smoke, for lack of
salt. The meat, though rank, is palatable, but not equal to macaw, which
we served up the next day.[130]

[Footnote 129: In the Quichua of Quito the peccari is called _saino_.]

[Footnote 130: The Uaupes on the Napo, according to Wallace, will not
eat peccari meat. "Meat putrifies in this climate (of the Tapajos) in
less than twenty-four hours, and salting is of no use unless the pieces
are cut in thin slices and dried immediately in the sun."--_Bates_.]

We had now passed the mouth of the Aguarico, leaving behind us the
Christian Quitus and the peaceful Zaparos. Henceforth the right bank of
the Napo is inhabited by the Mazanes and Iquitos; while on the left are
the wilder Santa Marias, Anguteros, Oritos, and Orejones. The Orejones,
or "Big Ears," enlarge those appendages to such an extent that they are
said to lie down on one ear and cover themselves with the other. This
practice is now going out of fashion. These Indians received their name,
Orejones, or Oregones, from the Spaniards, on account of this singular
custom of inserting disks of wood in the ears to enlarge them; the like
practice prevailed among the tribes on the Columbia River, Oregon. They
trade in hammocks, poisons, and provisions. The Anguteros, or Putumayos,
have a bad reputation. They are reported to have killed and robbed
sarsaparilla traders coming up stream. Nevertheless, we kept watch only
one night during the voyage, though we always anchored to an island, and
between Coca and the Amazon we did not see twenty-five men. Equally rare
were the savage brutes--not a jaguar showed himself, and only one
anaconda. The anaconda, or water-boa (_Eunectes murinus_[131]), is
larger and more formidable than the boa-constrictor which lives on the
land. It has a hideous appearance, broad in the middle, and tapering
abruptly at both ends.