At the time of the discovery the Spaniards found very few kinds of
quadruped mammals. One was the agouti, looking like a large rat and
inhabiting the forests; another the coati, similar to the squirrel and
easily domesticated. Three other classes are mentioned, the quemi,
mohui and perro mudo (dumb dog), but are not now to be found and as
the description of two of them almost tallies with that of the others
above mentioned, it is possible that different names were applied to
the same animals. It is possible, too, that reference was made to the
solenodon or almiqui, an animal long thought to be extinct but of
which several specimens have recently been found in Santo Domingo.
This animal is about two feet, long and resembles a rat, but having a
long prehensile snout and the habits of an ant-eater, it is considered
to be a remnant of the early zooelogical type from which diverged both
the rodents and the insectivorous animals of the present.
The Spaniards introduced the European domestic animals, which
immediately began to flourish. During the seventeenth and eighteenth
century the principal and for a long time almost the only industry of
the Spanish portion of the island was cattle-raising.
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