86 HUNTING THE JAGUAR. 



which the tiger darts forward, and is caught in the 

 noose ; the horse then springs away with all his 

 power, and drags the ferocious beast after him. 

 Onward they proceed, the Gaucho, his horse, and 

 the Jaguar; hut if, on looking back, the hunter 

 perceives that the noose has only caught the neck 

 of his victim, he throws another around his legs. 

 When he is thus doubly entangled, all resistance is 

 vain, and the Gaucho, dismounting at his leisure, 

 dispatches his enemy with the knives which he 

 carries in his boots. 



Should it happen that the noose has missed, and 

 that the Jaguar rushes boldly forward, the hunter 

 defends himself with his knives. The horse sees 

 the danger to which his master is exposed, and in- 

 stead of galloping away, presents his own chest to 

 the enemy. He is often wounded, and his blood 

 begins to flow, but his courage never forsakes him ; 

 he seems to know that the master, for whom he has 

 risked so much, will not leave him to perish. If the 

 Jaguar, exhausted with fatigue, allows the horse- 

 man one moment's respite, all chance of victory is 

 gone ; the fatal noose, which is always ready at the 

 saddle, is again laid hold of, and no instance is 

 yet known in which a Gaucho has twice missed 

 his aim. 



Connected with the subject of wild horses, is 

 the extraordinary fact, that the increase of these 

 animals in Brazil, where none of the same genus 

 existed before its discovery, altered even the 

 physical features of the country. Bulbous plants 

 and the numerous kinds of aloes, or agaves, with 

 which the plains were overspread, gradually disap- 



