FAZENDA LIFE. 



Ill 



we were not destined to see an Anta this day. The forest 

 being, as I have said, impenetrable to the hunter, except 

 where paths have been cut, the game is roused by sending 

 the dogs into the wood, the sportsmen stationing themselves 

 at certain distances on the outskirts. The Anta has his 

 haunts near lakes or rivers, and when wearied and heated 

 with the chase he generally makes for the water, and, 

 springing in, is shot as he swims across. As we were 

 lingering over the breakfast- table we heard the shout of 

 Anta ! Anta ! In an instant every man sprang to his 

 gun and ran down to the water-side, while we all stood 

 waiting, listening to the cries of the dogs, now frantic 

 with excitement, and expecting every moment the rush 

 of the hunted animal and his spring into the lake. But 

 it w^as a false alarm ; the cries of the dogs died away in the 

 distance : the day was colder than usual, the Anta turned 

 back from the water, and, leading his pursuers a weary 

 chase, was lost in the forest. After a time the dogs 

 returned, looking tired and dispirited. But though we 

 missed the Tapir, we saw enough of the sport to under- 

 stand what makes the charm to the hunter of watching 

 for hours in the woods, and perhaps returning, after all, 

 empty-handed. If he does not get the game, he has the 

 emotion ; every now and then he thinks the creature is 

 at hand, and he has a momentary agitation, heightened by 

 the cries of the dogs and the answering cry of the sports- 

 men, who strive to arouse them to the utmost by their 

 own shouts, and then if the animal turns back into the 

 thicket all sound dies away, and to a very pandemonium 

 of voices succeed the silence and solitude of the forest. 

 All these things have their fascination, and explain to 

 the uninitiated, to whom it seems at first incomprehensible^ 



