ADVENTURE WITH AN APE. 367 



more to make the improvements, which consisted of a 

 hut made of poles and thatched with corn-husks, and a 

 cucinera or kitchen at a little distance. The stables 

 and outhouses were a clearing bounded by a forest so 

 thick that cattle could not penetrate it, and on the road- 

 side by a rude fence. Altogether, in that mild climate 

 the effect was good ; and it was one of those occa- 

 sions which make a man feel, away from the region 

 of fictitious wants, how little is necessary for the com- 

 forts of life. The furniture of the hut consisted of 

 two reed bedsteads, a table, and a bench, and in one 

 corner was a pile of corn. The cura sent out for half 

 a dozen fresh pineapples ; and while we were refresh- 

 ing ourselves with them we heard an extraordinary 

 noise in the woods, which an Indian boy told us was 

 made by " un animal." Pawling and I took our guns, 

 and entering a path in the woods, as we advanced 

 the noise sounded fearful, but all at once it stopped. 

 The boy opened a way through thickets of brush and 

 underwood, and through an opening in the branches I 

 saw on the limbs of a high tree a large black animal 

 with fiery eyes. The boy said it was not a mico or 

 monkey, and I supposed it to be a catamount. I had 

 1 barely an opening through which to take aim, fired, and 

 the animal dropped below the range of view ; but, not 

 hearing him strike the ground, I looked again, and saw 

 him hanging by his tail, and dead, with the blood 

 streaming from his mouth. Pawling attempted to climb 

 the tree $ but it was fifty feet to the first branch, and the 

 blood trickled down the trunk. Wishing to examine 

 the creature more closely, we sent the boy to the house, 

 whence he returned with a couple of Indians. They 

 cut down the tree, which fell with a terrible crash, and 

 still the animal hung by its tail. The ball had hit him 



