Of the crab-eating racoons of the Mainland.

Translated by Kristine Drake ’23

There are crab-eating racoons [Procyon cangrivorus] in many parts of this Mainland, especially in the provinces of Sancta Marta and Cartagena. They are no larger than small gozques (dogs); their snouts and the lower halves of their arms and legs are black, and they are almost the size and manner of the skunks in Spain and just as malicious and prone to biting. There are also domestic ones that are very playful and mischievous, almost like monkeys. Their main delicacy and what they are most willing to eat is crabs, which is believed to be their primary sustenance. I had one of these creatures that one of my caravels brought to me from off the coast of Cartagena (I was on Darien), which the archer Indians [or Caribs] exchanged for two fishing hooks, and I had it for some time; it was a pleasant animal and not as dirty as black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra).