142 Through the Brazilian Wilderness 



day natural foes, but it is a little puzzling to see the 

 jaguar readily climbing trees to escape dogs; for ages 

 have passed since there were in its habitat any natural 

 foes from which it needed to seek safety in trees. But 

 it is possible that the habit has been kept alive by its 

 seeking refuge in them on occasion from the big pec- 

 caries, which are among the beasts on which it ordinarily 

 preys. 



We hung the buck in a tree. The colonel returned, 

 and not long afterward one of the paddlers who had been 

 watching the river called out to us that there was a tapir 

 in the water, a good distance up-stream, and that two of 

 the other boats were after it. We jumped into the canoe 

 and the two paddlers dug their blades in the water as 

 they drove her against the strong current, edging over 

 for the opposite bank. The tapir was coming down- 

 stream at a great rate, only its queer head above water, 

 while the dugouts were closing rapidly on it, the paddlers 

 uttering loud cries. As the tapir turned slightly to one 

 side or the other the long, slightly upturned snout and 1M 

 strongly pronounced arch of the crest along the head and 

 upper neck gave it a marked and unusual aspect. I could 

 not shoot, for it was directly in line with one of the pur- 

 suing dugouts. Suddenly it dived, the snout being 

 slightly curved downward as it did so. There was no 

 trace of it; we gazed eagerly in all directions; the dugout 

 in front came alongside our canoe and the paddlers rested, 

 their paddles ready. Then we made out the tapir clam- 

 bering up the bank. It had dived at right angles to the 

 course it was following and swum under water to the very 

 edge of the shore, rising under the overhanging tree- 



