SOUTH AMERICA. 233 



an immense jaguar, standing on the trunk of an THIRD 



JOURNEY. 



aged mora-tree, which bended over the river ; 



he growled, and showed his teeth as they ap- 

 proached; the coloured man fired at him with a 

 ball, but probably missed him, and the tiger 

 instantly descended, and took off into the woods. 

 I went to the place before dark, and we searched 

 the forest for about half a mile in the direction he 

 had fled, but we could see no traces of him, 

 or any marks of blood ; so I concluded that fear 

 had prevented the man from taking steady aim. 



We spent best part of the fourth night in 

 trying for the cayman, but all to no purpose. 

 I was now convinced that something was materi- 

 ally wrong. We ought to have been successful, 

 considering our vigilance and attention, and that 

 we had repeatedly seen the cayman. It was 

 useless to tarry here any longer ; moreover, the 

 coloured man began to take airs, and fancied 

 that I could not do without him. I never admit Discharge* 



. . T -I T the mtln "* 



of this in any expedition where 1 am commander ; colour, 

 and so I convinced the man, to his sorrow, that 

 I could do without him ; for I paid him what 

 I had agreed to give him, which amounted to 

 eight dollars, and ordered him back in his own 

 curial to Mrs. Peterson's, on the hill at the first 

 falls. I then asked the negro if there were 

 any Indian settlements in the neighbourhood; 

 he said he knew of one, a day and a half off. 

 We went in quest of it, and about one o'clock 



