The Headwaters of the Paraguay 119 



turned back toward the boat. The two exhausted mem- 

 bers of the party gave out, and we left them under a 

 tree. Colonel Rondon and Lieutenant Rogaciano were 

 not much tired ; I was somewhat tired, but was perfectly 

 able to go for several hours more if I did not try to go 

 too fast; and we three walked on to the river, reaching 

 it about half past four, after eleven hours' stiff walking 

 with nothing to eat. We were soon on the boat. A re- 

 lief party went back for the two men under the tree, 

 and soon after it reached them Kermit also turned up 

 with his hounds and his camaradas trailing wearily be- 

 hind him. He had followed, the jaguar trail until the 

 dogs were so tired that" even after he had bathed them, 

 and then held their noses in the fresh footprints, they 

 would pay no heed to the scent. A hunter of scientific 

 tastes, a hunter-naturalist, or even an outdoors naturalist, 

 or faunal naturalist interested in big mammals, with a 

 pack of hounds such as those with which Paul Rainey 

 hunted lion and leopard in Africa, or such a pack as the 

 packs of Johnny Goff and Jake Borah with which I 

 hunted cougar, lynx, and bear in the Rockies, or such 

 packs as those of the Mississippi and Louisiana planters 

 with whom I have hunted bear, wild-cat, and deer in the 

 cane-brakes of the lower Mississippi, would not only en- 

 joy fine hunting in these vast marshes of the upper 

 Paraguay, but would also do work of real scientific value 

 as regards all the big cats. 



Only a limited number of the naturalists who have 

 worked in the tropics have had any experience with the 

 big beasts whose life-histories possess such peculiar in- 

 terest. Of all the biologists who have seriously studied 



