84 A JAGUAR-HUNT ON THE TAQUARY 



water was their home and refuge. They usually went 

 ashore to feed on the grass, and made well-beaten trails 

 in the marsh immediately around the water ; but they 

 must have travelled these at night, for we never saw 

 them more than a few feet away from the water in the 

 daytime. Even at midday we often came on them 

 standing beside a bayou or pond. The dogs would 

 rush wildly at such a standing beast, which would wait 

 until they were only a few yards off, and then dash into 

 and under the water. The dogs would also run full tUt 

 into the water, and it was then really funny to see their 

 surprise and disappointment at the sudden and com- 

 plete disappearance of their quarry. Often a capybara 

 would stand or sit on its haunches in the water, with 

 only its blunt, short- eared head above the surface, quite 

 heedless of our presence. But if alarmed it would dive, 

 for capybaras swim with equal facility on or below the 

 surface ; and if they wish to hide, they rise gently 

 among the rushes or water-lily leaves with only their 

 nostrils exposed. In these waters the capybaras and 

 small caymans paid no attention to one another, swim- 

 ming and resting in close proximity. They both had 

 the same enemy, the jaguar. The capybara is a game 

 animal only in the sense that a hare or rabbit is. The 

 flesh is good to eat, and its amphibious habits and 

 queer nature and surroundings make it interesting. In 

 some of the ponds the water had about gone, and the 

 capybaras had become for the time being beasts of the 

 marsh and the mud ; although they could always find 

 little slimy pools, under a mass of water-lihes, in which 

 to lie and hide. 



Our whole stay on this ranch was delightful. On the 

 long rides we always saw something of interest, and 

 often it was something entirely new to us. Early one 



