JAGUARS SEARCH FOR A GOLD MINE. 81 



knives, with which they despatched the tiger after a 

 vigorous resistance. 



From two caverns in this ravine there at times 

 issue flames, which illumine the adjacent mountains, 

 and are seen to a great distance at night. The phe- 

 nomenon was accompanied by a long-continued sub- 

 terraneous noise at the time of the last earthquake. 

 A first attempt to penetrate into this pass was ren- 

 dered unsuccessful, by the strength of the vegeta- 

 tion and the intertwining of lianas and thorny plants ; 

 but the inhabitants becoming interested in the re- 

 searches of the travellers, and being desirous to 

 know what the German miner thought of the gold 

 ore which they imagined to exist in it, cleared a path 

 through the woods. On entering the ravine, they 

 found traces of jaguars ; and the Indians returned for 

 some small dogs upon which they knew these ani- 

 mals would spring in preference to attacking a man. 

 The rocks that bound it are perpendicular, and what 

 geologists term alpine limestone. The excursion 

 was rendered hazardous by the nature of the ground ; 

 but they at length reached the pretended gold mine, 

 which was merely an excavation in a bed of black 

 marl containing iron pyrites, a substance which the 

 guides insisted was no other than the precious 

 metal. 



They continued to penetrate into the crevice, and 

 after undergoing great fatigue, reached a wall of 

 rock, which-, rising perpendicularly to the height of 

 5116 feet, presented two inaccessible caverns inhab- 

 ited by nocturnal birds. Halting at the foot of one 

 of the caves from which flames had been seen to 

 issue, they listened to the remarks of the natives 

 respecting the probability of an increase in the fre- 

 quency of the agitations to which New -Andalusia 

 had so often been subjected. The cause of the lu- 

 minous exhalations, however, they were unable to 

 ascertain. 



On the 12th, they continued their journey to the 



