JAGUAR-HUNTER. 



185 



hams are made of it in the country, which are eaten 

 during Lent ; as this quadruped, according to eccle- 

 siastical zoology, is esteemed a fish. 



The travellers passed the night as usual in the open 

 air, although in a plantation, the proprietor of which, 

 a jaguar-hunter, half-naked, and as brown as a Zambo, 

 prided himself on being of the European race, and 

 called his wife and daughter, who were as slightly 

 clothed as himself, Donna Isabella and Donna Man- 

 uela. Humboldt had brought a chiguire ; but his 

 host assured him such food was not fit for white 

 gentlemen like them, at the same time offering him 

 venison. As this aspiring personage had neither 

 house nor hut, he invited the strangers to sling their 

 hammocks near his own, between two trees ; which 

 they accordingly did. They soon found reason, how 

 ever, to regret that they had not obtained better shel- 

 ter; for after midnight a thunder-storm came on, 

 which wetted them to the skin. Donna Isabella's 

 cat had perched on one of the trees, and fell into a 

 cot, the inmate of which imagined he was attacked 

 by some wild beast, and could hardly be quieted. 



At sunrise, the lodgers took leave of Don Ignacio 

 and his lady, and proceeded on their voyage. The 

 weather was a little cooler, the thermometer having 

 fallen from 86° to 75°, but the temperature of the 

 river continued at 79° or 80°. One might imagine 

 that on smooth ground, where no eminence can be 

 distinguished, the stream would have hollowed out 

 an even bed for itself ; but this is by no means the 

 case ; the two banks not opposing equal resistance 

 to the water. Below the Joval the mass of the cur- 

 rent is a little wider, and forms a perfectly straight 

 channel, margined on either side by lofty trees. It 

 was here about 290 yards broad. They passed a 

 low island densely covered by flamingoes, roseate 

 spoonbills, herons, and water-hens, which presented 

 a most diversified mixture of colours. On the right 

 bank they found a little Indian mission, consisting of 

 Q2 



