Information respecting Botanical Travellers. 265 



though my hut, merely an open shed, was at some distance from the 

 settlement, and a servant, besides myself, its only inhabitants, we 

 had been no otherwise disturbed by the jaguar than from the noise 

 of the dog when our unwelcome guest prowled in the neighbourhood 

 of the huts. I was thus one night sitting up at my desk, and had just 

 put my loaded pistols which had been lying on the desk on a box at 

 my left hand, thinking it too late to expect a visit from the tiger. A 

 short while after my eyes were directed to the outside of the shed, 

 when I discovered an object, the real nature of which I could not 

 make out from my hammock being in the way : holding forward the 

 light I discovered to my great astonishment the jaguar standing not 

 four paces from me, and looking steadfastly at my proceedings. 

 How long he had been there I know not, but before I had put down 

 the candle and seized the pistol, he had walked off slowly into the 

 bush, and although I fired after him I naturally missed him. A few- 

 nights after 1 was awakened by something crawling under my ham- 

 mock, and supposing it to be a dog which had been in quest of some 

 pieces of biscuit which I had left on a plate, I gave the disturber of 

 my rest a slap with the hand, when lo ! the animal cleared with one 

 spring the chests and trunks which stood in its way, and rushed in 

 the bush, displaying the spotted skin of the jaguar. I freely con- 

 fess that at this discovery the blood chilled in my veins. The marks 

 of the jaguar's paws left next morning no doubt as to the visitor, 

 and we began to consider not so improbable, the report of the Indians 

 as to who might have been the purloiner of the things which we had 

 missed. A search was begun in the neighbouring wood : pieces of 

 wool torn from the blanket when dragged through the bush pointed 

 out the probable direction which the jaguar had taken with its 

 booty, and soon after the blanket itself was found, apparently no 

 further injured than the rents which it might have got in being- 

 dragged along. The hammock was found in a quite different direc- 

 tion, and also the other missing objects with the exception of the 

 table-cloth. What could now be the object of the animal in carry- 

 ing them off ? Shall we compare it to the thievish magpie ? or was 

 it merely playfulness ? Sometimes we were astonished by his feats 

 of strength. One evening the Indians who had been out fishing re- 

 turned with a large Arapaima or Piraruco (Sudis Gigas), which they 

 had succeeded in capturing for us, their superstition forbidding them 

 to taste of its flesh. As it was late and the fish weighed not less than 

 two hundred pounds, we deferred conveying it on land until next 

 morning. When morning came no fish was to be found in the canoe, 

 but there were sufficient traces to show that it had been dragged 

 Ann. Nat. Hist. Vol. 4. No. 24. Dec. 1839. u 



