vii HABITS OF THE JAGUAR 143 



October 12th. — I had intended to push my excursion 

 farther, 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 Parana 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 capybaras 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 they chiefly live on fish ; this 

 account I have heard repeated. On the Parana they have 

 killed many wood -cutters, and have even entered vessels at 

 night. There is a man now living in the Bajada, who, coming 

 up from below when it was dark, was seized on the deck ; he 

 escaped, however, with the loss of the use of one arm. When 

 the floods drive these animals from the islands, they are most 

 dangerous. I was told that a few years since a very large one 

 found its way into a church at St. Fe : two padres entering one 

 after the other were killed, and a third, who came to see what 



