168 
ALARMING RENCONTRE. 
the sun, and lying in such a manner as to have their tails, 
which were furnished with broad plates, resting on one an- 
other. Some little herons,* white as snow, walked along their 
backs, and even upon their heads, as if passing over trunks 
of trees. The crocodiles were of a greenish grey, half 
covered with dried mud ; from their colour and immobility 
they might have been taken for statues of bronze. This ex- 
cursion had nearly proved fatal to me. I had kept my eyes 
constantly turned towards the river ; but, whilst picking up 
some spangles of mica agglomerated together in the sand, X 
discovered the recent footsteps of a tiger, easily distinguish- 
able from their form aud size. The animal had gone towards 
the forest, and turning my eyes on that side, I found myself 
within eighty paces of a jaguar that was 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 may seek 
in vain to fortify our reason. I was extremely alarmed, yet 
sufficiently master of myself and of my motions to enable 
me to follow the advice which the Indians had so often 
given us as to how we ought to act in such cases. I con- 
tinued to walk on without running, avoided moving my arms, 
and I thought I observed that the jaguar’s attention was 
fixed on a herd of eapybaras which was 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. Ilow 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 hud re- 
mained motionless, these enormous cats with spotted robes 
are so well fed in countries abounding in eapybaras, pecaries, 
and deer, that they rarely attack men. I arrived at the 
boat out of breath, arid related my adventure to the Indians. 
They appeared very little interested by my story; yet, after 
having loaded our guns, they accompanied us to the ceiba 
V Garzon oliico. It is believed, in Upper Egypt, that herons 
have an affection for crocodiles, because they take advantage in fishing 
of the terror that monstrous animal causes among the fishes, which 
he drives from the bottom to the surface of the water; but on the bank* 
of the Nile, the heron keeps prudently at some distance from the cro- 
codile. 
