150 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



hundreds in troops, I had never been able to 

 find a true hermit ; for a racoon separated 

 from his troop by accident is not a " Pisote 

 solo." But one day, having just cleaned a 

 double-barrelled smooth bore 5 and loaded it 

 carefully with ball, inside my rancho, an 

 Indian, who was at work also inside the 

 rancho mending a lasso, listened a short time 

 and whispered 6 ' Pisote solo" Looking outside 

 I saw a fat lazy racoon climbing leisurely up 

 a small tree left in the middle of the clearing. 

 Now here was an animal that I had been 

 some months in search of, actually walking 

 into the larder. Sending a bullet through 

 him, he came out of the tree much faster than 

 he went up it, and he went away very slowly, 

 leaving such a bloody trail behind him, as 

 plainly to shew it would be his last. Two 

 good dogs were upon him in a few seconds, 

 and brought him back, but they also brought 

 back on their own sides a few scratches, or 

 rather gashes, that required sewing up. The 

 Indians say, only one dog should be run at a 

 racoon. Their bite is very severe, something 

 like a badger's, but their principal defence 

 lies in the power, length, and sharpness of 

 the claws, and they often make short work 



