168 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



jaguars was the better. One night, not long after, one of 

 these animals invaded our camp. As the sand-bank we 

 had selected was a narrow one, the crew chose to sleep on 

 the forest side; they greatly feared the crocodiles in the 

 river. Early in the morning I was awakened by a jaguar's 

 roaring mingled with frightened wails, and upon investiga- 

 tion discovered that the men had come to our part of the 

 camp near the water, leaving the captain's wife in their 

 former location. They had reasoned that she was the least 

 useful member of the party and had compelled her to re- 

 main as "bait." Maria was sent back to San Fernando in 

 the next canoe we met bound down the river. 



The abundance of the big, spotted cats and their harm- 

 lessness under ordinary circumstances is astonishing, al- 

 though at times they will attack human beings. At 

 one of the rubber-camps we were shown the skin of a 

 recently killed animal which had stalked a two-year-old 

 child at play not far from the hut; the mother, a negress, 

 seeing the animal in time, attacked it with a machete and 

 killed it. 



The next river of any importance to be encountered was 

 the Rio Lao, reached February 17. Up to this time the 

 strong north wind had continued to blow without interrup- 

 tion, and the course of the river was dotted with islands. 

 Rubber-camps were situated on the river-bank, and we had 

 our first glimpses of the Maquiritare Indians. Owing to 

 the frequent rains, the year had been a bad one for the pa- 

 trones, or managers of the camps; also, a kind of malady 

 had broken out among the peons and Indians which killed 

 many and frightened others away. Nevertheless, those 

 who remained seemed quite contented, and if we chanced 

 to spend the night at a camp or barraca, our men always 

 joined them in their pastime of drinking, playing the guitar, 

 and singing songs about one another, far into the night. 

 Some of the men were clever at improvising songs apropos 

 of the occasion. At one place, for instance, they heard of 

 the jaguar's visit to the sand-bank, and that the captain's 



