SOUTH AMERICA. 



227 



and tlie end of the rope was made fast to a stake driven Third 



Journey. 



well into the sand. 



The Indian then took the empty shell of a land tortoise, 

 and gave it some heavy blows with an axe. I asked 

 why he did that. He said, it was to let the Cayman hear 

 that something was going on. In fact, the Indian meant 

 it as the Cayman's dinner-bell. 



Having done this, we went back to the hammocks, not 

 intending to visit it again till morning. During the night, 

 the Jaguars roared and grumbled in the forest, as though 

 the world was going wrong with them, and at intervals 

 we could hear the distant Cayman. The roaring of the 

 Jaguars was awful ; but it was music to the dismal noise 

 of these hideous and malicious reptiles. 



About half past five in the morning, the Indian stole Succeed in 



11"/^ . . , hooking a 



olF silently to take a look at the bait. On arriving at the Cayman, 

 place, he set up a tremendous shout. We all jumped 

 out of our hammocks, and ran to him. The Indians got 

 there before me, for they had no clothes to put on, and . 

 I lost two minutes in looking for my trowsers and in 

 slipping into them. 



We found a Cayman, ten feet and a half long, fast to 



2 G 2 



