32 IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



standing her struggles, of which the evidence is 

 plainly marked on the sand, she is torn to pieces 

 and eaten. Here are the delicate hoofs and there 

 two or three bones, while bristles like miniature 

 porcupine quills litter the sand. 



Sitting on a hollow tree beside a creek, he sees 

 a thousand flowers and fruits floating down the 

 stream. Now he distinguishes a palm nut snatched 

 under the water by a great fish, or a shoal of small 

 fry feeding on the yellow hog-plums which are so 

 conspicuous against the dark water. Now there is 

 a splash as an alligator comes out of the thicket 

 and dives under, to come up again some distance 

 away, hardly distinguishable except to a trained 

 eye. This reminds us of the protective coloration 

 of every living thing in the forest. The jaguar 

 lives on the sand-reef where bushes grow in large 

 clumps between irregular patches of sand. Unlike 

 the dense forest, where reigns eternal twilight, these 

 shrubs admit a few rays through the canopy above 

 which lie as bright spots on the litter of dead 

 leaves. How like is this to the markings of the 

 jaguar, and how easy can this beautiful creature 

 lie hid in such a thicket. Again, the tapir and 

 a species of deer have white markings when young, 

 which they lose as they grow older ; these are also 

 protective at the time when such protection is most 



