1833.] HABITS OF THE JAGUAR. 127 



gradual increase, rather than of the destruction at any one period. 

 Subsequently to the drought of 1827 to 1832, a very rainy season 

 followed, which caused great floods. Hence it is almost certain 

 that some thousands of the skeletons were buried by the deposits 

 of the very next year. What would be the opinion of a geologist, 

 viewing such an enormous collection of bones, of all kinds of 

 animals and of all ages, thus embedded in one thick earthy mass ? 

 Would he not attribute it to a flood having swept over the surface 

 of the land, rather than to the common order of things ? * 



October 13ith. I had intended to push my excursion further, 

 but not being quite well, I was compelled to return by a balandra, 

 or one-masted vessel of about a hundred tons' burden, which was 

 bound to Buenos Ayres. As the weather was not fair, we moored 

 early in the day to a branch of a tree on one of the islands. The 

 Porana is full of islands, which undergo a constant round of decay 

 and renovation. In the memory of the master several large ones 

 had disappeared, and others again had been formed and protected 

 by vegetation. They are composed of muddy sand, without even 

 the smallest pebble, and were then about four feet above the level 

 of the river ; but during the periodical floods they are inundated. 

 They all present one character ; numerous willows and a few other 

 trees are bound together by a great variety of creeping plants, thus 

 forming a thick jungle. These thickets afford a retreat for capy- 

 baras and jaguars. The fear of the latter animal quite destroyed 

 all pleasure in scrambling through the woods. This evening I had 

 not proceeded a hundred yards, before finding indubitable signs of 

 the recent presence of the tiger, I was obliged to come back. On 

 every island there were tracks; and as on the former excursion 

 " el rastro de los Indios " had been the subject of conversation, so 

 in this was " el rastro del tigre." 



The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be the favourite 

 haunts of the jaguar ; but south of the Plata, I was told that they 

 frequented the reeds bordering lakes : wherever they are, they seem 

 to require water. Their common prey is the capybara, so that it 

 is generally said, where capybaras are numerous there is little 

 danger from the jaguar. Falconer states that near the southern 

 side of the mouth of the Plata there are many jaguars, and that 



* These droughts to a certain degree seem to be almost periodical ; I was 

 told the dates of several others, and the intervals were about fifteen years. 



