CHAPTER IV 



About an hour before sunset, we reached the 

 place which the two men who had joined us at the 

 falls pointed out as a proper one to find a Cay- 

 man. There was a large creek close by, and a 

 sand-bank gently sloping to the water. Just 

 within the forest on this bank, we cleared a place 

 of brushwood, suspended the hammocks from the 

 trees, and then picked up enough of decayed 

 wood for fuel. 



The Indian found a large land tortoise, and 

 this, with plenty of fresh fish which we had in the 

 canoe, afforded a supper not to be despised. 



The tigers had kept up a continued roaring 

 every night since we had entered the Essequibo. 

 The sound was awfully fine. Sometimes it was 

 in the immediate neighbourhood; at other times 

 it was far off, and echoed amongst the hills like 

 distant thunder. 



It may, perhaps, not be amiss to observe here, 

 that when the word tiger is used, it does not 

 mean the Bengal tiger. It means the jaguar, 

 whose skin is beautifully spotted, and not striped 

 like that of the tiger in the East. It is, in fact, 

 the tiger of the new world, and receiving the name 

 of tiger from the discoverers of South America, 

 it has kept it ever since. It is a cruel, strong, 

 and dangerous beast, but not so courageous as 

 the Bengal tiger. 



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