Note 358 — TRAVELS IN THE INTERIOR OF NORTH AMERICA, IN THE YEARS 1832, 1833, AND 1834 (continued 6)

At Rock River, which falls into the Mississippi, the Indians caught, in 1825, about 130,000 musk-rats; in the following year, about half the number; and, in about two years after, these animals were scarcely to be met with. Previous to this time, an Indian caught, in thirty days, as many as 1,600 of them. In South America, there is only one species of wild animal, known to me, whose skins are collected in large quantities. According to D'Orbigny, in the first six months of 1828, above 150,000 dozen Quiyaa were sold, in Corrientes, at from fifteen to eighteen francs the dozen. The Indians hunt this animal, which lives in the morasses, with dogs, and shoot it with arrows.—Maximilian.