A Jaguar-Hunt on the Taquary 91 



with its fore legs off the ground. Their long ears were 

 very prominent. The dogs raced at them. I had always 

 supposed that armadillos merely shuffled along, and 

 curled up for protection when menaced; and I was al- 

 most as surprised as if I had seen a turtle gallop when 

 these two armadillos bounded off at a run, going as fast 

 as rabbits. One headed back for the nearest patch of 

 jungle, which it reached. The other ran at full speed — 

 and ran rejdly fast, too — until it nearly reached the other 

 patch, a hundred yards distant, the dogs in full cry im- 

 mediately behind it. Then it suddenly changed its mind, 

 wheeled in its tracks, and came back like a bullet right 

 .through the pack. Dog after dog tried to seize it or 

 stop it and turned to pursue it; but its wedge-shaped 

 snout and armored body, joined to the speed at which it 

 was galloping, enabled it to drive straight ahead through 

 its pursuers, not one of which could halt it or grasp it, 

 and it reached in safety its thorny haven of refuge. It 

 had run at speed about a hundred and fifty yards. I was 

 much impressed by this unexpected exhibition ; evidently 

 this species of armadillo only curls up as a last resort, 

 and ordinarily trusts to its speed, and to the protection 

 its build and its armor give it while running, in order to 

 reach its burrow or other place of safety. Twice, while 

 laying railway tracks near Sao Paulo, Kermit had acci- 

 dentally dug up armadillos with a steam-shovel. 



There were big ant-hills, some of them of huge di- 

 mensions, scattered through the country. Sometimes 

 they were built against the stems of trees. We did not 

 here come across any of the poisonous or biting ants 

 which, when sufficiently numerous, render certain dis- 



