The Headwaters of the Paraguay 109 



ders, and left little sores. More than once in the drier 

 parts of the marsh we met small caymans making their 

 way from one pool to another. My horse stepped over 

 one before I saw it. The dead carcasses of others 

 showed that on their wanderings they had encountered 

 jaguars or human foes. 



We had been out about three hours when one of the 

 dogs gave tongue in a large belt of woodland and jungle 

 to the left of our line of march through the marsh. The 

 other dogs ran to the sound, and after a while the long 

 barking told that the thing, whatever it was, was at bay 

 or else in some refuge. We made our way toward the 

 place on foot. The dogs were baying excitedly at the 

 mouth of a huge hollow log, and very short examination 

 showed us that there were two peccaries within, doubt- 

 less a boar and sow. However, just at this moment the 

 peccaries bolted from an unsuspected opening at the other 

 end of the log, dove into the tangle, and instantly dis- 

 appeared with the hounds in full cry after them. It was 

 twenty minutes later before we again heard the pack 

 baying. With much difficulty, and by the incessant swing- 

 ing of the machetes, we opened a trail through the net- 

 work of vines and branches. This time there was only 

 one peccary, the boar. He was at bay in a half-hollow 

 stump. The dogs were about his head, raving with 

 excitement, and it was not possible to use the rifle; so 

 I borrowed the spear of Dom Joao the younger, and 

 killed the fierce little boar therewith. 



This was an animal akin to our collared peccary, 

 smaller and less fierce than its white-jawed kinsfolk. It 

 is a valiant and truculent little beast, nevertheless, and 



