SOUTH AMERICA. 227 



before this morning, and never heard one TIIIRI> 



JOURNEY. 



after. 



About an hour before sunset, we reached the 

 place which the two men, who had joined us at 

 the falls, pointed out as a proper one to find 

 a cayman. There was a large creek close by, 

 and a sand-bank gently sloping to the water. 

 Just within the forest on this bank, we cleared 

 a place of brushwood, suspended the hammocks 

 from the trees, and then picked up enough of 

 decayed wood for fuel. 



The Indian found a large land tortoise, and 

 this, with plenty of fresh fish which we had in 

 the canoe, afforded a supper not to be despised. 



The tigers had kept up a continual roaring Roaring of 



. ,. ,-. T1T-1 ! 



every night since we had entered the hssequibo. 

 The sound was awfully fine. Sometimes it was 

 in the immediate neighbourhood ; at other times 

 it was far off, and echoed amongst the hills like 

 distant thunder. 



It may, perhaps, not be amiss to observe here, 

 that when the word Tiger is used, it does not mean 

 the Bengal tiger. It means the Jaguar, whose 

 skin is beautifully spotted, and not striped like 

 that of the tiger in the East. It is, in fact, the 

 tiger of the new world, and receiving the name of 

 tiger from the discoverers of South America, it 

 lias kept it ever since. It is a cruel, strong, and 

 dangerous beast, but not so courageous as the 

 Bengal tiger. 



Q2 



