A Jaguar-Hunt on the Taquary 73 



quadrangle, surrounded by a fence or low stockade. One 

 end of the quadrangle was formed by the ranch-house 

 itself, one story high, with whitewashed walls and red- 

 tiled roof. Inside, the rooms were bare, with clean, 

 whitewashed walls and palm-trunk rafters. There were 

 solid wooden shutters on the unglazed windows. We 

 slept in hammocks or on cots, and we feasted royally on 

 delicious native Brazilian dishes. On another side of 

 the quadrangle stood another long, low white building 

 with a red-tiled roof ; this held the kitchen and the living- 

 rooms of the upper-grade peons, the headmen, the cook, 

 and jaguar-hunters, with their families: dark-skinned 

 men, their wives showing varied strains of white, In- 

 dian, and negro blood. The children tumbled merrily 

 in the dust, and were fondly tended by their mothers. 

 Opposite the kitchen stood a row of buildings, some 

 whitewashed daub and wattle, with tin roofs, others of 

 erect palm-logs with palm-leaf thatch. These were the 

 saddle-room, storehouse, chicken-house, and stable. The 

 chicken-house was allotted to Kermit and Miller for the 

 preparation of the specimens; and there they worked in- 

 dustriously. With a big skin, like that of the giant ant- 

 eater, they had to squat on the ground ; while the duck- 

 lings and wee chickens scuffled not only round the skin 

 but all over it, grabbing the shreds and scraps of meat 

 and catching flies. The fourth end of the quadrangle 

 was formed by a corral and a big wooden scaffolding on 

 which hung hides and strips of drying meat. Extraor- 

 dinary to relate, there were no mosquitoes at the ranch ; 

 why I cannot say, as they ought to swarm in these vast 

 "pantanals," or swamps. Therefore, in spite of the heat. 



