106 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



dead underneath him. I saw at a glance how 

 it had happened, as the ground all around 

 was beaten in by the feet of a large herd of 

 javalinos. The tigre had been crouching on 

 the bough, and the drove passing under him, 

 he had hung on by his hind claws sticking 

 into the soft bark of the branch, and swung 

 himself down to pick up the young grunter ; 

 but before he could recover himself he was 

 seized by the old ones, who had torn and 

 mangled him as far as they could reach. 

 When I returned home," continued the 

 Tigrero, " I related to my old father, who 

 was then a tigrero, what I had seen ; and 

 he told me that, when a youth, he had seen 

 the same thing, though how long ago that 

 may be, qmen sabe, as I have sixty-five years 

 upon my head, and well counted too." He 

 was a fine powerful man, with scarcely a 

 grey hair, and could do a day's hard work, 

 on foot or on horseback, that might shame 

 many a much younger man. 



