AUDACITY OF A JAGUAE. 
*24 
we indulged the hope of at length sleeping in a spot that 
was inhabited, and of tailing some exercise in herbalizing. 
This anticipation was, however, disturbed at our last resting- 
place on the Cassiquiaro. Whilst we were sleeping on 
the edge of the forest, we were warned by the Indians, 
in the middle ol the night, that they heard very near us the 
cries of a jaguar. These cries, they alleged, came from 
the top of some neighboiiring trees. ’ Such is the thickness 
of the forests in these regions, that scarcely any animals are 
to be found there but such as climb trees;' as, for instance, 
the monkeys, animals of the weasel tribe, jaguars, and other 
species of the genus Eelis. 
As our fires burnt brightly, we paid little attention to the 
cries of the jaguars. They had been attracted by the smell 
and noise of our dog. This animal (which was of the mastiff 
breed) began at first to bark; and when the tiger drew 
nearer, to howl, hiding himself below our hammocks. How 
great was our grief, when in the morning, at the moment of 
re-embarking, the Indians informed us that the dog had 
disappeared! There could be no doubt that it had been 
carried off by the jaguars.* Perhaps, when their cries had 
ceased, it had (pandered from the fires on the side of the 
beach; and possibly we had not heard its moans, as we were 
in a profound sleep. We have often heard the inhabitants 
of the banks of the Orinoco and the Eio Magdalena affirm, 
that the oldest jaguars will carry off animals from the midst 
of a halting-place, cunningly grasping them by the neck so as 
to prevent their cries. We waited part of the morning, in 
the hope that our dog had only strayed. Three days after 
we came back to the same place; we heard again the cries of 
the jaguars, for these animals have a predilection for particu- 
lar spots ; but all our search was vain. The dog, which had 
accompanied us from Caracas, and had so often in swimming 
escaped the pursuit of the crocodiles, t had been devoured in 
the forest. 
On the 2 1st May, we again entered the bed of the 
Orinoco, three leagues below the mission of Esmeralda. It 
was now a month since we had left that river near the 
mouth of the G-uaviare. We had still to proceed seven 
* See Views of Nature, p. 195. f Ibid., p. 198. 
