138 Through the BraziHan Wilderness 



pletely devoured by the ravenous fish. It was a further 

 illustration of the uncertainty of temper and behavior of 

 these ferocious little monsters. In other lagoons they 

 had again and again left us and our dogs immolested. 

 They vary locally in aggressiveness just as sharks and 

 crocodiles in different seas and rivers vary. 



On the morning of January 9th we started out for a 

 tapir-hunt. Tapirs are hunted with canoes, as they dwell 

 in thick jungle and take to the water when hounds follow 

 them. In this region there were extensive papyrus- 

 swamps and big lagoons, back from the river, and often 

 the tapirs fled to these for refuge, throwing off the 

 hounds. In these places it was exceedingly diflBcult to 

 get them; our best chance was to keep to the river in 

 canoes, and paddle toward the spot in the direction of 

 which the hounds, by the noise, seemed to be heading. 

 We started in four canoes. Three of them were Indian 

 dugouts, very low in the water. The fourth was our 

 Canadian canoe, a beauty; light, safe, roomy, made of 

 thin slats of wood and cement-covered canvas. Colonel 

 Rondon, Fiala with his camera, and I went in this canoe, 

 together with two paddlers. The paddlers were natives 

 of the poorer class. They were good men. The bows- 

 man was of nearly pure white blood ; the steersman was 

 of nearly pure negro blood, and was evidently the 

 stronger character and better man of the two. The other 

 canoes carried a couple of fazendeiros, ranchmen, who 

 had come up from Caceres with their dogs. These dug- 

 outs were manned by Indian and half-caste paddlers, 

 and the fazendeiros, who were of nearly pure white 

 blood, also at times paddled vigorously. All were dressed 



