There are three sorts of foxes here, different from those of our
country. The Abipones call the larger ones Kaalk, the lesser Licheran,
and the least Lichera, which last is named Zorrino by the Spaniards, and
by the French Canadians Bête Puante, the stinking beast, or Enfant du
Diable, child of the devil; appellations which it justly deserves. This
animal, which is equal in size to a small rabbit, of a chesnut colour,
and marked on each side by two white lines, though it pleases the eyes
by its elegant form, offends the nostrils by its excessive stink. It may
be commended for beauty, but not for politeness; for at every passer-by
it squirts, with certain aim, a liquor so pestilent, that dogs, if
sprinkled with it, will howl dreadfully, and roll themselves for some
time on the ground, as if scalded with boiling water. If it touch the
eyes, blindness is the certain consequence. If a woollen or linen
garment, a stick, or any thing else, be sprinkled with it, no farther
use can be made of the article on account of the stink, which no art
will ever take away. If one of these animals shed his urine in the open
plain, the stench is carried by the wind the space of a league. That
white liquor shines in the night like phosphorus, and wherever it
passes, looks like a ray of fire. If a skunk creep into a house, and
scatter any of that terrible liquor, the inhabitants, one and all, rush
out, as if the house was on fire, and fly into the street or open plain,
to breathe freely, that they may not be stifled with the stench.
Therefore, although this animal is very little and weak, it is dreaded
extremely by tigers, mastiffs, and all mortals. Its unequalled stink is
its means of defence. Whoever desires to possess its most beautiful
skin, in order to catch it, without injury to himself, must take it by
the tail, and hold it with its head towards the ground; for, by this
means, it loses the use of its pestiferous syringe, and cannot squirt
out that horrible liquid. Some assert that the fat in the kidneys of the
skunk is either the cause, or the receptacle of the stink, and that if
this be taken away, the flesh may be eaten, and is not of an unpleasant
savour: I envy no one such a dainty.
Many have written of the skunk, but generally from the accounts of
others: I, alas! from my own experience. I feel both shame and grief in
refreshing the sad remembrance of my disaster; but will, nevertheless,
relate it, to show you my candour. When, with some fifty companions, we
journeyed from the port of Buenos-Ayres, where we first landed, through
an immense plain of an hundred and forty leagues, to Cordoba, we were
all conveyed in waggons, drawn by four oxen; for a waggon in those
deserts serves both for house and bed. Reclining, day and night, upon a
mattress, we pursued our journey according to the season, the roads, and
the weather. The jolting of this rude vehicle creates nausea, and
fatigues the whole frame, so that quitting it at evening, to enjoy the
fresh air, was quite a relief. As I was walking with two Spaniards, I
spied a skunk gently approaching us: "Look," cried I, "what a beautiful
animal is that!" We trusted too much to external appearance. Not one of
us perceived what a pest was concealed under this elegant skin.
Hastening our steps we all emulously ran to catch the animal, and my ill
stars directed that I should outstrip both the Spaniards. The cunning
skunk, spying me near him, feigned submission, stood still, and, as it
were, offered himself my captive. Distrusting the blandishments of an
animal that was unknown to me, I gently touched it with a stick. In a
moment it lifted up its leg, and discharged at me that Stygian pest. It
sprinkled my left cheek all over, and then victorious, took to flight
immediately. That my eyes were spared may be accounted a blessing. I
stood thunderstruck, become, in an instant, intolerable to myself; for
the horrid stench had diffused itself from my cheek into every part of
my body, to my very inner garments; and spreading in a moment through
the plain, far and wide, announced what had happened to my companions.
Some on foot, some on horseback, they all hastened to look at me, amidst
peals of laughter; but, smelling me from a distance, returned a long way
back, with greater speed than they had come. Like an excommunicated
person, I was shunned by all, and was forbidden to enter the very tent
where I used to sup with the rest. I, therefore, betook myself to my own
waggon. On asking the Spanish driver if he smelt any thing amiss, he
replied that he had been deprived of the power of smell for four years.
"Oh! fortunate circumstance!" cried I, for if the driver had been in
possession of this faculty, I should have been banished from my own
waggon also. Throwing off all my clothes, I washed, wiped, and rubbed my
face over and over again. But this was washing the blackamoor white.
That night I wished I could have been separated from my body, so
entirely had that liquid exhalation penetrated my very fibres,
especially my cheek, which it burnt like fire. My clothes, all of which
I had entirely thrown off, though daily exposed to wind, rain, sun, and
dust, for more than a month, on the top of the waggon, always retained
the vile scent, and could be made no possible use of. Had I a hundred
tongues I should think them all insufficient to convey an adequate idea
of the stench of this ill-scented beast. Whether it be urine which it
discharges, or any other liquid, I am at a loss to determine. This is
indubitable,—that if Theophrastus, Paracelsus, and any other chemist,
had conspired together, in all their furnaces and shops, and with all
their arts, they could never have composed a stink more intolerable than
that which the skunk exhales by nature. Spirit of hartshorn, or any more
powerful odour, if there be such, will be called aromatic scents,
frankincense, balm of Gilead, and the most fragrant carnations and
roses, by him that has once smelt the skunk. Europe may be congratulated
upon her good fortune in being unacquainted with this cursed beast.