xxiv INTRODUCTION 



tragedy and drama, for then the killers walk 

 abroad, and they are many and very hungry. 

 The jaguar leaves the great branch whereon he 

 has slept away the day in the shadow of a mass 

 of foliage. On the ground he reminds one of a 

 great spotted bulldog, for his broad chest, mas- 

 sive shoulders, and thick bowed forelegs give him 

 a rather stiff, heavy or ''clumpy" walk, but in 

 the trees he is at once the true cat, graceful, 

 sinuous and blending in color with the lights and 

 shadows. His sturdy body seems almost to 

 change its entire character; he leaps easily from 

 branch to leaning trunk, threads his way noise- 

 lessly through a tangle of vines, creeps out upon 

 a big trunk overhanging the sandbar and leaps 

 like a flash upon the timid Capybara, his favorite 

 prey. 



As he leisurely makes his meal, the great 

 Cayman swims slowly up and down just at the 

 edge of the sandbar, watching the great cat with 

 cold, unwinking eye. Perhaps he is hoping the 

 jaguar will leave a part of the game uneaten. 



Out in midstream lies a school of the fish known 

 as the Perai, waiting for the faintest taint of 

 blood in the water, for though no larger than a 

 very thick, muscular black bass of about four 

 pounds ' weight, they will kill anything which falls 

 wounded into the water. Even the great Cayman 

 himself, should he be torn by the claws of a jaguar 

 caught by a sudden rush as it was drinking, would 

 find his armor plate of no avail, for these wicked 

 little killers are in such numbers, and can bite so 

 savagely with their powerful jaws, that the bleed- 

 ing scratch would instantly be greatly enlarged 



