The Headwaters of the Paraguay 117 



without interruption for forty-eight hours, let up, and in 

 an hour or two the sun came out. We went back to the 

 river, and found our rowboat. In it the hounds — a motley 

 and rather worthless lot — and the rest of the party were 

 ferried across to the opposite bank, while Colonel Ron- 

 don and I stayed in the boat, on the chance that a tapir 

 might be roused and take to the river. However, no 

 tapir was found; Kermit killed a collared peccary, and 

 I shot a capybara representing a color-phase the natu- 

 ralists wished. 



Next morning, January 1, 1914, we were up at five 

 and had a good New Year's Day breakfast of hardtack, 

 ham, sardines, and coffee before setting out on an all- 

 day's hunt on foot. I much feared that the pack was al- 

 most or quite worthless for jaguars, but there were two 

 or three of the great spotted cats in the neighborhood 

 and it seemed worth while to make a try for them any- 

 how. After an hour or two we found the fresh tracks 

 of two, and after them we went. Our party consisted 

 of Colonel Rondon, Lieutenant Rogaciano — an excellent 

 man, himself a native of Matto Grosso, of old Matto 

 Grosso stock — ^two others of the party from the Sao 

 Joao ranch, Kermit, and myself, together with four dark- 

 skinned camaradas, cowhands from the same ranch. We 

 soon found that the dogs would not by themselves follow 

 the jaguar trail ; nor would the camaradas, although they 

 carried spears. Kermit was the one of our party who 

 possessed the requisite speed, endurance, and eyesight, 

 and accordingly he led. Two of the dogs would follow 

 the track half a dozen yards ahead of him, but no far- 

 ther; and two of the camaradas could just about keep up 



