502 RECREATION 
their trail looks like a series of post 
holes. The meat is used by the natives 
but is rather coarse and of strong 
flavor. All these are best hunted near 
the water-holes during the dry season. 
You have rivals in your hunting in the 
spotted tigre and the dark-haired 
“cats,” which make an easy living from 
among the deer, pigs and lesser forest 
folk. 
_ These animals, variously called ja- 
guars, leopards and tigres, or tigers, are 
powerfully built and very active mem- 
bers of the cat family. They are com- 
mon enough in all parts, but, being 
night hunters, are seldom seen unless 
hunted. The Indians seldom hunt them 
unless there is a near-by market for the 
skins, or when they find that a family 
of these “cats” are poaching on their 
_ game district and driving away the pigs 
and deer. On the other hand, a con- 
siderable loss is experienced every sea- 
son by the ranchers, who lose young 
cattle and who are consequently glad 
to help the sportsman kill them. The 
best method of hunting them is to wait 
at daybreak near his “kill.” He feeds 
until it is light and then goes to the 
swamps or heavy timber for the day. 
Occasionally one gets a shot when out 
for deer at dusk, when they are some- 
times found hunting along the trails 
or openings. Human beings are not 
attacked by them, although an adult 
male may weigh 120 pounds, and meas- 
ure seven. feet from tip-to: tip. Lheir 
vitality is astonishing. On one occa- 
sion I wounded a female jaguar, but 
she got into a swamp. My Indians 
followed with a dog and treed her half 
a’ mile from where she was wounded. 
She was weak and swaying, but snarl- 
ing and showing fight. After they 
killed her, shooting her through the 
head, they found that my bullet had 
ranged through the intestines, stomach 
and right lung, causing a large amount 
of internal bleeding as well as two 
smashed ribs. In spite of all this, she 
had gone the distance mentioned at a 
fair speed. 
As there are as yet practically no 
roads in the interior of Panama and 
trails are nearly always tributary to 
the nearest river, travel is almost en- 
tirely done by canoes. The native 
cayuco or pwagua of the interior is 
usually made of native cedar, narrow, 
flat bottomed and ending in a flat plat- 
form-like bow and stern. This peculiar 
construction is to enable one to land 
directly over the bow or stern when, 
due to the nature of the bank, it is 
impossible to more than force the bow 
to solid ground. With paddle and pole 
the native can handle his canoe wonder- 
fully well, even against heavy currents, 
and keep up the steady swing for hours. 
A trip up the river needs little 
preparation as compared with a camp- 
ing trip in a cold climate. A good 
guide with his big working knife or 
machete can do wonders. With this 
he can cut trail, clean the camp site, 
make a shelter or house, a bedstead, a 
mattress of thatch and a cover for the 
fire—all fastened together with vine 
ropes which he cuts near by. He can 
cut firewood and dress game, slice 
bacon or potatoes, chop out an im- 
promptu paddle or palanca, “cut rub- 
ber,” dig roots, get out fair-sized logs 
and, if necessary, inflict serious wounds 
with it. He seldom goes anywhere 
without this indispensable article and 
uses it for nearly everything. 
As your canoe slips quietly along the 
bank of some good river, the charm is 
derived both from the beauty of the 
scene and from the feeling of expecta- 
tion regarding new sights and chances 
at odd sorts of game. You round a 
bend, your canaletero, or paddleman, 
stops and, as you slowly bring into view 
the stretch or vuelta beyond, probably 
he says, “Lagarto, senor, alli! alli!’ 
and when your unaccustomed eyes 
finally follow his direction, you see a 
big ’gator, light gray on the back 
from dried mud and yellow below, 
lying like a log on the farther mud 
bank. He sees you, you may be sure 
of that; in fact he usually sees every- 
thing that moves, and hears and smells 
as well as he sees; he is in no hurry to 
