20 
Unexpected Interview witk a Jaguar. 
tlie E. hy IS. proved our most welcome eompaniou since starting- tlie jour- 
ney : at 11 o'cloclv tlie thermometer was 00" F. In the course of the day 
we again passed a hage 5U to GU ft. high bank of quartz-rubble whicU 
was cemented by a ferruginous clay into immense conglomerate boulders. 
As the sandbanks proved likewise plentiful on the other side of this 
huge roi-ky reef, the river thus resuming its original character, the 
rest of,the party busied themselves in dragging tiie corials over while I 
hurried ahead with the gun to search for duck along the shaded spots 
on the banks, and make sure of a tasty meal for the evening. The clear 
water allowed of my watching the funny antics of a couple of sting-ray>-. 
that Avere just then enveloping themselves in the sandy bottom close 
inshore, and this so claimed my attention tliat I forgot everything 
around and near me, until I was suddenly roused out of my reveries by 
a dc^'p snarling and growling. Judging from my experience on the 
Caniiku Kauge, it could only be a jaguar, and on glancing up, dismayed 
and appalled, I actually saw an immense beast some ten to twelve paces 
in front of me. There he was at the water-edge, Iiis eyes sparkling and 
rolling, his tail touching the gTOund; very likely he must just then have 
come for a drink from out the thick scrub bordering the stream. lie 
Avas probably 'quite as much disgusted at my presence as I was frightened 
at his : for I must admit being so much upset at first by tlie unplf asant 
encounter lliat I rclui ncd Iiis hxed and üery gaze with a scowl equally 
ferocious. Are you going to slutot? A\as my first th(»ng]il. — No! — for but 
one of tlie two barrels is loaded, and that only with duck-shot. What 
are yen going to do then? Bear away backwards, always keeping the 
enemy distinctly in view. No sooner thought than done; so without 
turning my e^'es from off the huge creature that Avas 
showing Iiis immense teeth, and not giA-ing a single 
thought to Avhere my crab's marcli might lead, I made my way back. 
The jaguar remained still, continued to stare, to liiss and to snarl until 
he suddenly disappeared from sight in a bend of the river, when I noAV 
''right-about wheeled," and hastened back to the boat as hard as I 
could pelt. When we returned witli guns and bullets, he had witlidraAvn 
into the hush, where we did not succeed in finding him. The fright Ava.s 
not insignificant, for the consciousness of liaving no weapon at all suit- 
able for such an enemy is more paralysing than the greatest danger that 
one may be ])repared for. 
65. We found deeper water again some way aboA'e the ominous sand- 
bank. Six otters seemed as if they Avanted to contest our right to it, 
because they continued SAvimming around Avith tlieir peculiar snorting 
and barking, at the same time raising their bodies half-way out of the 
water, and exposing their terrible sets of teeth. They came so close to 
the corials that the Indians Avere able to hit at them with 
their paddles — but the next moment they A\()uld dive and reappear 
directly Avith reneAved fury. This activity led me to lielieve that their 
young were in the neigliliouiiiood, liecause although before and si ioe 
they always approached to within a certain distance of our boats Avitli 
that angry barking of theirs, they never made a regular attack on ns as 
they did in this case. One of them got Avounded here, but immediately 
