KING OF THE VULTURES. 91 



animal is too foul for them to feed on, they 

 circled over head and round about, but never 

 descended to the abundant repast lying 

 before them. The alligators, also, neglected 

 them, though their general habits are very 

 far from being fastidious, and every pool in 

 a river or good-sized stream is generally 

 sure to be occupied by one. What the cause 

 of the murrain was could not be discovered, 

 but the hunters and woodsmen ascribed it to 

 disease of the liver, and they remarked that 

 all the deer they had killed of late had their 

 livers in a very rotten state. We suffered 

 very little within four or five miles of our 

 ranchos ; but in the low grounds the forest 

 was almost cleared of deer. 



Having mentioned the vulture, I cannot 

 let the opportunity pass without remarking 

 the extraordinary respect, fear, or whatever 

 it may be called, shewn by the commoner 

 species of vulture to the king of the vultures. 

 In Peru I had been told that it might fre- 

 quently be witnessed in that country, but 

 never had my curiosity gratified ; but one 

 day, having lost a mule by death, he was 

 dragged up to a small hill not far off, where I 

 knew in an hour or two he would be safely 

 buried in vulture sepulture. I was standing 



