
1048 The American Naturalist. [December, 
appeared near the buffalo, and on crossing we found that they were 
gathering rattan, and had the calf’s mother to pull the long stems 
out of the jungle to the beach. They had built a low shed on 
the beach near the edge of the woods; and as we had crowded 
about as far up the river as we could for the driftwood, we 
- unloaded our canoe and set to work to add another shelter to the 
one existing, so as to cover our party. Some posts were set up 
in the ground and tied with rattan to each other and the old 
shed, and palm leaves were brought from the forest and tied on 
for a roof, and a shelter soon made, though the makers were so 
shiftless that I had to set them to do the work over three times 
before it would shed rain. Pedro, who had come in unsuccessful 
from his hunt after the ¢amarou, borrowed my gun again and set 
out up the river, and returned before night with a small wild boar, 
which was quickly fitted for the pot. He reported having seen 
two famarou crossing the river. By dark it was raining, and 
hanging our hammocks with their mosquito nets from the posts 
of our shed, we went to sleep in our own new house. The 
Indians kept a great smoke all night to drive off the mosquitoes. 
The next morning Mateo was out with the Winchester rifle 
soon after daylight, and just as we had got breakfast I heard the 
heavy boom of the gun, apparently half a mile away up the river 
and soon after there was another report, and then another and 
another was echoing back and forth in the thick, misty air from 
one side of the river to the other, until I had counted seven shots. 
Mateo was alone, and I had heard such stories of the ferocity of 
the zamarou that I was alarmed; but half an hour afterwards he 
appeared on the other bank below us, shouting: “I’ve got him, 
I've got him,” and on my inquirigg what, he answered: “ An 
old bull ¢amarou.” As he waded the river up to his middle, 
with the rifle above his head, I could see that his face was bleed- 
ing and his shirt torn off of one shoulder; but this was from the 
thorny jungle he had forced his way through, and from the sharp, 
cutting edges of the leaves of the wild canes. He had found a 
fresh track crossing the river, and followed it through the rich, 
soft bottom land almost as well as if in snow, until he saw the 
tamarou in the bed of a stream, drinking. After he had found a 

