i66 JUNGLE ISLAND 



cat gets after them, but a stronger animal, like 

 an ocelot, can bite through the armor. When 

 attacked the armadillos turn over on their backs 

 and strike out powerfully with their claws. 



When I was on the island by myself the next 

 week, playing Robinson Crusoe without any Man 

 Friday, I climbed on the second day to a palm 

 thicket at the top of the ridge above my shack, 

 where I had a view down into a ravine on either 

 side. From daybreak on I stayed there, measur- 

 ing at regular intervals the amount of light that 

 sifted through the palm leaves, and keeping per- 

 fectly still between times to see what would come 

 my way. 



Before the drowsy quiet of mid-afternoon 

 nothing but mosquitoes, wood ticks, ants, spiders, 

 and beetles had come along, with an occasional 

 humming bird venturing inquisitively close to my 

 face. 



About half -past three a hoglike animal twelve 

 inches high, light brown, slab-sided, with cropped 

 ears, and almost tailless, came trotting actively 

 along my ridge. This was my first sight of the 

 wild pig, or peccary, whose wallow I had found 

 along the creek bed the week before. About 

 twenty feet away it saw or smiclled me, stopped, 

 grunted, and made off slowly down the ravine, 

 where I could hear others rooting about among 

 the dry leaves. Peccaries are hunted and are 

 considered good eating. 



