RESIDENCE AT SANTAREM 123 
musket, another with a tercado, and the third — a 
tall powerful man — was quite unarmed. It was 
upon the last that the jaguar made his first attack, 
springing upon him out of a bush ; and he had 
fortunately sufficient activity and presence of mind 
to seize the jaguar by the fore-paws, one of which 
he secured by the wrist, and the other lower down, 
and consequently less firmly. They struggled 
until the jaguar released this paw, and made a claw 
with it at the man's head, tearing his scalp com- 
pletely over his eyes. At the moment of the 
attack the man who had the musket was some 
distance in the rear, but the one with the tercado 
flew to his companion's assistance, and the jaguar, 
leaving the latter, turned on his new assailant, 
whom also he succeeded in wounding severely. 
He then sat down midway between them, eyeing 
first one and then the other, and looking, I dare- 
say, as amiable as a cat might between two dis- 
abled mice, uncertain which to devour first. At 
this critical conjuncture the third man came up, and 
the contest was renewed, resulting in the death of 
the tiger, but not until he had wounded all his 
assailants. The man who had been scalped was 
living at Santarem in 1850, and constantly wore a 
black skull-cap, his head being still very tender. 
It is fortunate for me that Mr. Bates's much 
longer residence in Brazil, and consequent more 
intimate acquaintance with the people, have enabled 
him to give a far more complete account of their 
manners, morals, and customs than I could pretend 
to do. He lived long enough among the Brazilians 
to learn to like them, which I confess I hardly got 
