FAZENDA LIFE. HI 
we were not destined to see an Anta this day. The forest 
being, as I have said, impenetrable to the hunter, except 
where paths have been cut, the game is roused by sending 
the dogs into the wood, the sportsmen stationing themselves 
at certain distances on the outskirts. The Anta has his 
haunts near lakes or rivers, and when wearied and heated 
with the chase he generally makes for the water, and, 
springing in, is shot as he swims across. As we were 
lingering over the breakfast-table we heard the shout of 
Anta ! Anta ! In an instant every man sprang to his 
gun and ran down to the water-side, while we all stood 
waiting, listening to the cries of the dogs, now frantic 
with excitement, and expecting every moment the rush 
of the hunted animal and his spring into the lake. But 
it was a false alarm ; the cries of the dogs died away in the 
distance : the day was colder than usual, the Anta turned 
back from the water, and, leading his pursuers a weary 
chase, was lost in the forest. After a time the dogs 
returned, looking tired and dispirited. But though we 
missed the Tapir, we saw enough of the sport to under- 
stand what makes the charm to the hunter of watching: 
o 
for hours in the woods, and perhaps returning, after all, 
empty-handed. If he does not get the game, he has the 
emotion ; every now and then he thinks the creature is 
at hand, and he has a momentary agitation, heightened by 
the cries of the dogs and the answering cry of the sports- 
men, who strive to arouse them to the utmost by their 
own shouts, and then if the animal turns back into the 
thicket all sound dies away, and to a very pandemonium 
of voices succeed the silence and solitude of the forest. 
All these things have their fascination, and explain to 
the uninitiated, to whom it seems at first incomprehensible, 
