182 



JAGUAR. 



Cano dc h 

 llgrcra. 



CHAP. XYI. proceed from their scales, and appear higher on their 

 — legs than when at rest, at the same time bending the 



the crocoiiue, back. They generally advance in a straight line, but 

 can easily turn when they please. They swim with 

 great facility, even against the most rapid current. On 

 the Apurc they seemed to live chiefly on the chiguires 

 (Cavia capyhara), which feed in herds on the banks, and 

 are of the size of our pigs. These creatures have no 

 weapons for defence, and are alternately the prey of the 

 jaguars on land and of the crocodiles in the water. 



Stopping below the mouth of the Cano de la Tigrera, 

 m a sinuosity called La Vuelta del Joval, they measured 

 the velocity of the current at its surface, which was 

 only 3*4 feet in a second. Here they were surrounded 

 by chiguires, swimming like dogs, with the head and 

 neck out of the water. A large crocodile, which was 

 sleeping on the shore in the midst of a troop of these 

 animals, awoke at the approach of the canoe, and moved 

 slowly into the stream without frightening the others. 

 Near the Joval every thing assumed a wild and awful 

 aspect. Here they saw an enormous jaguar stretched 

 beneath the shade of a large zamang or mimosa. It had 

 just killed a chiguire, which it held with one of its paws, 

 while the zamuro-vultures were assembled in flocks 

 around it. It was curious to observe the mixture of 

 boldness and timidity which these birds exhibited, for 

 although they advanced within two feet of the tiger, 

 they instantly shrunk back at the least motion which 

 he made. In order to examine more nearly their man- 

 ners, the travellers went into the little boat ; when the 

 tyrant of tlie ibrest withdrev/ behind the saus^o-hushes, 

 leaving his victim, which the vultures in the mean time 

 attempted to devour, but were soon put to flight by his 

 rushing into the midst of them.* 



J:iguur. 



Vultures. 



* In tlie province of Tnciiman the common mode of killinj^ the 

 jajjiiar is to trace liini to liis lair, by tlie wool left on the bushes, if 

 he has carried ofi' a sheeii, or by means of a doj;- trained for the pur- 

 pose. On findinj; the eniMiiy the i;aucho puts himself into a position 

 lor recciviii)^ him on the pomt of a bayonet or spear, at the first 



