LURKING INDIANS 261 



hardly imagine that the male is more brilliantly coloured. 

 The fourth bird was a queer hawk of the genus ibycter, 

 black, with a white belly, naked red cheeks and throat 

 and red legs and feet. Its crop was filled with 

 the seeds of fruits and a few insect remains ; an 

 extraordinary diet for a hawk. 



The morning of the 16th was dark and gloomy. 

 Through sheets of blinding rain we left our camp of 

 misfortune for another camp where misfortune also 

 awaited us. Less than half an hour took our dugouts 

 to the head of the rapids below. As Kermit had 

 already explored the left-hand side, Colonel Rondon and 

 Lyra went down the right-hand side and found a 

 channel which led round the worst part, so that they 

 deemed it possible to let down the canoes by ropes from 

 the bank. The distance to the foot of the rapids was 

 about a kilometre. While the loads were being brought 

 down the left bank, Luiz and Antonio Correa, our two 

 best watermen, started to take a canoe down the right 

 side, and Colonel Rondon walked ahead to see anything 

 he could about the river. He was accompanied by one 

 of our three dogs, Lobo. After walking about a kilo- 

 metre he heard ahead a kind of howling noise, which he 

 thought was made by spider-monkeys. He walked in 

 the direction of the sound and Lobo ran ahead. In a 

 minute he heard Lobo yeU with pain, and then, stiU 

 yelping, come toward him, while the creature that was 

 howling also approached, evidently in pursuit. In a 

 moment a second yell from Lobo, followed by silence, 

 announced that he was dead ; and the sound of the 

 howling, when near, convinced Rondon that the dog 

 had been killed by an Indian, doubtless with two arrows. 

 Probably the Indian was howling to lure the spider- 

 monkeys toward him. Rondon fired his rifle in the air 



