SOUTH AMERICA. 223 



required considerable caution not to burst the THIRD 



, ,. - . JOURNEY. 



blisters, otherwise sores would have ensued. I- 

 immediately got into the hammock, and there 

 passed a painful and sleepless night, and for two 

 days after, I was disabled from walking. 



About midnight, as I was lying awake, and in visited in 

 great pain, I heard the Indian say, " Massa,l h 

 massa, you no hear tiger ?" I listened attentively, Tlger 

 and heard the softly sounding tread of his feet as 

 he approached us. The moon had gone down ; 

 but every now and then we could get a glance of 

 him by the light of our fire : he was the jaguar, 

 for I could see the spots on his body. Had I 

 wished to have fired at him, I was not able to 

 take a sure aim, for I was in such pain that I 

 could not turn myself in my hammock. The 

 Indian would have fired, but I would not allow 

 him to do so, as I wanted to see a little more of 

 our new visitor ; for it is not every day or night 

 that the traveller is favoured with an undisturbed 

 sight of the jaguar in his own forests. 



Whenever the fire got low, the jaguar came a 

 little nearer, and when the Indian renewed it, he 

 retired abruptly ; sometimes he would come within 

 twenty yards, and then we had a view of him, 

 sitting on his hind legs like a dog ; sometimes he 

 moved slowly to and fro, and at other times we 

 could hear him mend his pace, as if impatient. 

 At last the Indian, not relishing the idea of 

 having such company in the neighbourhood, could 



