Up the Paraguay 53 



nel Rondon during his exploring trips had met with 

 more than one unpleasant experience in connection with 

 them. He had lost one of his toes by the bite of a 

 piranha. He was about to bathe and had chosen a shal- 

 low pool at the edge of the river, which he carefully- 

 inspected until he was satisfied that none of the man- 

 eating fish were in it; yet as soon as he put his foot 

 into the water one of them attacked him and bit off a 

 toe. On another occasion while wading across a narrow 

 stream one of his party was attacked; the fish bit him 

 on the thighs and buttocks, and when he put down his 

 hands tore them also; he was near the bank and by a 

 rush reached it and swung himself out of the water 

 by means of an overhanging limb of a tree ; but he was 

 terribly injured, and it took him six months before his 

 wounds healed and he recovered. An extraordinary in- 

 cident occurred on another trip. The party were with- 

 out food and very hungry. On reaching a stream they 

 dynamited it, and waded in to seize the stunned fish as 

 they floated on the surface. One man, Lieutenant Pyri- 

 neus, having his hands full, tried to hold one fish by put- 

 ting its head into his mouth; it was a piranha and seem- 

 ingly stunned, but in a moment it recovered and bit a 

 big section out of his tongue. Such a hemorrhage fol- 

 lowed that his life was saved with the utmost difficulty. 

 On another occasion a member of the party was off by 

 himself on a mule. The mule came into camp alone. 

 Following his track back they came to a ford, where in 

 the water they found the skeleton of the dead man, his 

 clothes uninjured but every particle of flesh stripped 

 from his bones. Whether he had drowned, and the 



