126 



TRAVELS ON THE RIO NEGRO. 



[Jtme 



disappeared for some days, and had not returned, and we 

 began to be afraid that a jaguar which had been heard near 

 the house, and whose track had been seen, had destroyed 

 them. A search was accordingly made, and the remains of a 

 sow were discovered in a thicket not far from the house. The 

 next night we heard the jaguar roaring within fifty yards of us, 

 as we lay in our hammocks in the open shed ; but there being 

 plenty of cattle, pigs, and dogs about, we did not feel much 

 alarmed. Presently we heard a report of a gun from an 

 Indian's cottage near, and made sure the animal was dead. 

 The next morning we found that it had passed within sight of 

 the door, but the man was so frightened that he had fired at 

 random and missed, for there are some Indians who are as 

 much cowards in this respect as any one else. For two or 

 three days more we heard reports of the animal at different 

 parts of the estate, so my hunter went out at night to lie in 

 wait for it, and succeeded in killing it with a bullet. It was an 

 onga of the largest size, and was believed to have killed, 

 besides the sow, a cow which had disappeared some weeks 

 previously. 



The weather was now very dry : no rain had fallen for some 

 time ; the oranges were fully ripe, and the grass, so green and 

 fresh when I arrived, was beginning to assume a brownish- 

 yellow tinge. Tobacco-picking had begun, and I saw the 

 process of the manufacture as carried on here. Tobacco is 

 sown thickly on a small patch of ground, and the young plants 

 are then set in rows, just as we do cabbages. They are much 

 attacked by the caterpillar of a sphinx moth, which grows to a 

 large size, and would completely devour the crop unless care- 

 fully picked off. Old men, and women, and children are 

 therefore constantly employed going over a part of the field 

 every day, and carefully examining the plants leaf by leaf till 

 the insects are completely exterminated. When they show 

 any inclination to flower, the buds are nipped off ; and as soon 

 as the leaves have reached their full size, they are gathered in 

 strong wicker baskets, and are laid out in the house or a shed, 

 on poles supported by uprights from the floor to the ceiling. In 

 a few days they dry, and during the hot days become quite 

 crisp ; but the moisture of the night softens them, and early in 

 the morning they are flaccid. When they are judged sufficiently 

 dry, every leaf must have the strong fibrous midrib taken out 



