SOUTH AMERICA. 



217 



The Indian found a large land tortoise, and this, with Third 



Journey. 



plenty of fresh fish which we had in the canoe, afforded — 



a supper not to be despised. 



The tigers had kept up a continual roaring every night Roaring of 



^ ^ ^ ■ ^ J ^ the tigers. 



since we had entered the Essequibo. The sound was 

 awfully fine. Sometimes it was in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood ; at other times it was far off, and echoed 

 amongst the hills like distant thunder. 



It may, perhaps, not be amiss to observe here, that 

 when the word tiger is used, it does not mean the Bengal 

 tiger. It means the Jaguar, whose skin is beautifully 

 spotted, and not striped like that of the tiger in the East. 

 It is, in fact, the tiger of the new world, and receiving 

 the name of tiger from the discoverers of South America, 

 it has kept it ever since. It is a cruel, strong, and 

 dangerous beast, but not so courageous as the Bengal 

 tiger. 



We now baited a shark-hook with a large fish, and put 

 it upon a board about a yard long, and one foot broad, 

 which we had brought on purpose. Tliis board was 

 carried out in the canoe, about forty yards into the river. 

 By means of a string, long enough to reach the bottom 

 of the river, and at the end of which string was fastened 

 a stone, the board was kept, as it were, at anchor. One end 

 of the new rope I had bought in town, was reeved through 

 the chain of the shark-hook, and the other end fastened 

 to a tree on the sand-bank. 



2 F 



