no HEADWATERS OF THE PARAGUAY 



them, anyhow. After an hour or two we found the 

 fresh tracks of two, and after them we went. Our 

 party consisted of Colonel Rondon, Lieutenant Roga- 

 ciano — 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, cow-hands 

 from the same ranch. We soon found that the dogs would 

 not by themselves foUow 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 foUow the track half a dozen 

 yards ahead of him, but no farther ; and two of the 

 camaradas could just about keep up with him. For an 

 hour we went through thick jungle, where the machetes 

 were constantly at work. Then the trail struck off 

 straight across the marshes, for jaguars swim and wade 

 as freely as marsh-deer. It was a hard walk. The sun 

 was out. We were drenched with sweat. We were 

 torn by the spines of the innumerable clusters of small 

 palms with thorns like needles. We were bitten by 

 the hosts of fire-ants, and by the mosquitoes, which we 

 scarcely noticed where the fire-ants were found, exactly 

 as aU dread of the latter vanished when we were 

 menaced by the big red wasps, of which a dozen stings 

 will disable a man, and if he is weak, or in bad health, 

 will seriously menace his Ufe. In the marsh we were 

 continually wading, now up to our knees, now up to 

 our hips. Twice we came to long bayous so deep that 

 we had to swim them, holding our rifles above water in 

 our right hands. The floating masses of marsh grass, 

 and the sUmy stems of the water-plants, doubled our 

 work as we swam, cumbered by our clothing and boots 



