446 



gone toward the forest ; and turning my eyes 

 on that side, I found myself within eighty 

 steps of a jaguar, lying under the thick foliage 

 of a ceiba. No tiger had ever appeared to me 

 so large. 



There are accidents in life, against which we 

 might seek in vain to fortify our reason. I was 

 extremely frightened, yet sufficiently master of 

 myself, and of my motions, to enable me to fol- 

 low the advice which the Indians had so often 

 given us, how to act in such cases. I continued 

 to walk on without running ; avoided moving my 

 arms ; and thought I observed that the jaguar's 

 attention was fixed on a herd of capybaras, which 

 were crossing the river. I then began to return, 

 making a large circuit toward the edge of the 

 water. As the distance increased, I thought I 

 might accelerate my pace. How often was I 

 tempted to look back, in order to assure myself 

 that I was not pursued ! Happily I yielded very 

 tardily to this desire. The jaguar had remained 

 motionless. These enormous cats with spotted 

 robes are so well fed in countries abounding in 

 capybaras, pecaris, and deer, that they rarely 

 attack men. I arrived at the boat out of breath, 

 and related my adventure to the Indians. They 

 appeared very little moved by it ; yet, after hav- 

 ing loaded our firelocks, they accompanied us 

 to the ceiba, beneath which the jaguar had lain. 

 He was there no longer, and it would have been 



