9 RIO PARANA. [CHAP. VH. 



the carcass, they seldom return to it. The Gauchos say that the 

 jaguar, when wandering about at night, is much tormented by the foxes 

 yelping as they follow him. This is a curious coincidence with the fact 

 which is generally affirmed of the jackals accompanying, in a similarly 

 officious manner, the East Indian tiger. The jaguar is a noisy animal, 

 roaring much by night, and especially before bad weather. 



One day, when hunting on the banks of the Uruguay, I was shown 

 certain trees, to which these animals constantly recur for the purpose, 

 as it is said, of sharpening their claws. I saw three well-known trees ; 

 in front, the bark was worn smooth, as if by the breast of the animal, 

 and on each side there were deep scratches, or rather grooves, extending 

 in an oblique line, nearly a yard in length. The scars were of different 

 ages. A common method of ascertaining whether a jaguar is in the 

 neighbourhood is to examine these trees. I imagine this habit of the 

 jaguar is exactly similar to one which may any day be seen in the com- 

 mon cat, as with outstretched legs and exserted claws it scrapes the leg 

 of a chair; and I have heard of young fruit trees in an orchard in 

 England having been thus much injured. Some such habit must also 

 be common to the puma, for on the bare hard soil of Patagonia I have 

 frequently seen scores so deep that no other animal could have made 

 them. The object of this practice is, I believe, to tear off the ragged 

 points of their claws, and not, as the Gauchos think, to sharpen them. 

 The jaguar is killed, without much difficulty, by the aid of dogs baying 

 and driving him up a tree, where he is despatched with bullets. 



Owing to bad weather we remained two days at our moorings. Our 

 only amusement was catching fish for our dinner ; there were several 

 kinds, and all good eating. A fish called the "armado" (a Silurus) is 

 remarkable from a harsh grating noise which it makes when caught by 

 hook and line, and which can be distinctly heard when the fish is 

 beneath the water. This same fish has the power of firmly catching 

 hold of any object, such as the blade of an oar or the fishing-line, with 

 the strong spine both of its pectoral and dorsal fin. In the evening the 

 weather was quite tropical, the thermometer standing at 79. Numbers 

 of fireflies were hovering about, and the musquitoes were very trouble- 

 some. I exposed my hand for five minutes, and it was soon black with 

 them ; I do not suppose there could have been less than fifty, all busy 

 sucking. 



October i$th. We got under way and passed Punta Gorda, where 

 there is a colony of tame Indians from the province of Missiones. We 

 sailed rapidly down the current, but before sunset, from a silly fear of 

 bad weather, we brought-to in a narrow arm of the river. I took the 

 boat and rowed some distance up this creek. It was very narrow, 

 winding, and deep ; on each side a wall thirty or forty feet high, formed 

 by trees intwined with creepers, gave to the canal a singularly gloomy 

 appearance. I here saw a very extraordinary bird, called the Scissor- 

 beak (Rhynchops nigra). It has short legs, web feet, extremely long- 

 pointed wings, and is of about the size of a tern. The beak is 

 flattened laterally, that is, in a plane at right angles to that of a spoon- 

 bill or duck. It is as flat and elastic as an ivory paper-cutter, and the 



