144 THROUGH THE BRAZILIAN WILDERNESS 



good men we had, and was called Antonio Parecis. He 

 found the tracks of a herd of thirty or forty cashadas, and 

 the following morning we started after them. 



On the first day we killed nothing. We were rather 

 too large a party, for one or two of the visiting fazendeiros 

 came along with their dogs. I doubt whether these men 

 very much wished to overtake our game, for the big pec- 

 cary is a murderous foe of dogs (and is sometimes dangerous 

 to men). One of their number frankly refused to come or 

 to let his dogs come, explaining that the fierce wild swine 

 were "very badly brought up" (a literal translation of his 

 words) and that respectable dogs and men ought not to 

 go near them. The other fazendeiros merely feared for 

 their dogs; a groundless fear, I believe, as I do not think 

 that the dogs could by any exertion have been dragged 

 into dangerous proximity with such foes. The ranch fore- 

 man, Benedetto, came with us, and two or three other 

 camaradas, including Antonio, the Parecis Indian. The 

 horses were swum across the river, each being led beside 

 a dugout. Then we crossed with the dogs; our horses 

 were saddled, and we started. 



It was a picturesque cavalcade. The native hunters, 

 of every shade from white to dark copper, all wore leather 

 leggings that left the soles of their feet bare, and on their 

 bare heels wore spurs with wheels four inches across. They 

 went in single file, for no other mode of travel was possible; 

 and the two or three leading men kept their machetes out, 

 and had to cut every yard of our way while we were in 

 the forest. The hunters rode little stallions, and their 

 hounds were gelded. 



Most of the time we were in forest or swampy jungle. 



