160 



RIO PARANA. 



Oct. 1833. 



wandering about at nighty is much tormented by the foxes 

 yelping as they follow him. This is a curious coincidence 

 with the fact which is generally affirmed of the jackals ac- 

 companying^ in a similarly officious manner^ the East Indian 

 tiger. The jaguar is a noisy animal^ roaring much by night, 

 and especially before bad weather. 



One day^ when hunting on the banks of the Uruguay, I 

 was shown certain trees, to which these animals are 

 said constantly to recur, for the purpose of sharpening 

 their claws. I saw three well-known trees ; in front the 

 bark was worn smooth, and on each side there were deep 

 scratches, or rather grooves, extending in an oblique line, 

 nearly a yard in length. The scars were of different ages. A 

 common method of ascertaining whether a jaguar is in the 

 neighbourhood, is to examine these trees. I imagine this 

 habit of the jaguar is exactly similar to one, which may any day 

 be seen in the common cat, as with outstretched legs and ex- 

 serted claws it scrapes the leg of a chair. Some such habit 

 must be also common to the puma, for on the bare hard soil 

 of Patagonia I have frequently seen scores so deep, that no 

 other animal could have made them. The object of this 

 practice is, 1 should think, to blunt rather than to sharpen 

 (as the Gauchos say), the points of their claws, which are so 

 seldom used. The jaguar is killed, without much difficulty, 

 by the aid of dogs baying and driving him up a tree, where 

 he is despatched with bullets. 



Owing to bad v/eather we remained two days at our 

 moorings. Our only amusement was catching fish for our 

 dinner : there were several kinds, and all good eating. A 

 fish called the " armado^^ (a Silurus), is remarkable from a 

 harsh grating noise it makes when caught by hook and line, 

 and which can be distinctly heard when the fish is beneath 

 the water. This same fish has the power of firmly catching 

 hold of any object, such as the blade of an oar or the fishing- 

 line, with the strong spine both of its pectoral and dorsal fin. 

 In the evening the weather was quite tropical, the thermometer 

 standing at 79°. Numbers of fireflies were hovering about. 



