I. Introduction

II. History and Etymology

III. Taxonomy

References

Previous to the arrival of Europeans on the West Coast of South America, the only domestic animals which could be used as food were the llama, alpaca, Coy or Guinea Pig, and a bird called Tuya, about the size of a large duck. Under these circumstances, Cavies must have been of great importance as a food supply, and are in fact so mentioned by the early writers, who, however, generally speak of them as rabbits (Conejo), the name by which they are still called by those Peruvians and Bolivians who speak Spanish.

Velasco, in his “Historia de Quito,” says that the Indians had great numbers of Cavies in their houses. We may fairly conclude that they would bestow the same elaborate care in “breeding and selecting these small rodents as we know they bestowed upon the llamas and alpacas.” We are told that these latter animals were kept in separate flocks of different colours; and if, by any chance, a young one was born of a wrong colour, it was immediately moved into a different flock.

If this system were applied to the Cavies, many distinct varieties would be evolved. This careful breeding of the Cavy, and a very remote period for its first domestication, are circumstances both needed to account for the extremely artificial colour and marking of the animals; and we may also reason inversely, from the permanence and obstinate irregularity of the markings, as well as from the colours, so distinct from any wild form, that the domestication took place at a very remote epoch.

We are at first puzzled to know how this little animal, which is neither a pig nor a native of Guinea, came by its absurd misnomer. This is, however, soon explained, if we consider the circumstances under which Europeans must have made its acquaintance. The Spaniards, on their first going into the Peruvian markets, would see exposed for sale, in large numbers, a little animal looking remarkably like a sucking pig, and would give it that name, to which they would add the distinctive term, “Indian,” because the early navigators spoke of South America as a part of the Indies: thus, we have Porco da India, Porcella da India, Cochon d’Inde, and Topsell’s term, “the Indian Little Pig Coney.” The name of “Guinea Pig” is of a later date, and was, probably a further confusion of our own, caused by the circumstance that we had more traffic with the coast of Guinea than with that of South America, and also were accustomed to consider Guinea as a part of the Indies. The pig-like appearance of which I have spoken results from the mode of preparing Cavies for cooking–namely, by scalding and scraping them in the same manner as we should treat a pig.

The Guinea Pig was first described scientifically by Aldrovandus, and his contemporary, Gesner. Aldrovandus was born A.D. 1522, and died in 1607. Gesner was born in 1516, and died in 1605. The great victory of Pizarro over the Peruvians, when he seized the person of the Inca, and decided the fate of the country, was gained on 16th November, 1532, shortly after the Spaniards arrived in Peru. It is clear, therefore, that the figures of the Guinea Pig, and the descriptions of them, which still accurately represent and describe the animal, must have been done soon after its arrival in Europe. It is usual to fix this event, vaguely, as occurring about fifty years after the discovery of Peru, or about A.D. 1580.

In Topsell’s “Historie of Foure-footed Beastes, from Gesner and Others,” 1607, which contains what I believe to be the first English reference to the Guinea Pig, it is called “the Indian Little Pig Coney.” The description, which I conclude is Gesner’s, is as follows: “Five claws upon a foot behind, and six before: teeth like a mouse, and no tail, and the colours variable. I have seen them all white and all yellow, and also different from both these.” Topsell’s “Gesner” makes a curious mistake as to the number of claws-mine certainly have only three on a foot behind, and four before. It is clear that the pure white breed existed at this early period, and was, probably, a result of Peruvian cultivation under the Incas.

Pennant, feeling, no doubt, the inappropriateness of the term “Guinea Pig,” called this animal the “Restless Cavy.” This name is, however, inaccurate, for Cavies, when there is no exciting cause, such as fear or hunger, are very quiet animals, and will lie side by side for hours, until one or other of these disturbing causes rouses them to activity. The date of the first edition of Pennant’s “Hist. Quad.” is 1781. It is evident that Pennant has followed Buffon, who, in this instance at least, is not a safe guide. He says: “Colour white, varied with orange and black in irregular blotches; no tail; inhabits Brazil; a restless, grumbling little animal, perpetually running from corner to corner; breeds when two months old, has from four to twelve young at a time; would be innumerable, but numbers of the young are eaten by cats, others killed by the males; are very tender, multitudes of them dying of cold.” A great part of Pennant’s description of the habits of the Guinea Pig is incorrect. There are many curious misstatements in Buffon, and these have been repeated, upon his authority, by Pennant and subsequent naturalists, evidently without any practical acquaintance with the subject.

In Peru, the Cavy seems to have been reared running loose in the kitchens of the Indian houses; and this appears to be still done in the more rural parts of the country, where the Guinea Pig still holds its own in the struggle with European cattle and poultry.