1894 
Catemaea 
April 
The trip across the smooth surface of the lake in early dawn was 
especially pleasant as the moist air had a balsy temperature that was 
very agreeable. We left the canoe and went up to the house of the 
ranchman living here to whom I brought letters. He welcomed us cord¬ 
ially on the strength of these and insisted on our having coffee with 
him. He has a ranch here with from 100 to 200 cattle and has made a 
business of sending milk across to Catenaeo daily. 
The land hereabouts is very fertile and where it has not been 
cleared a heavy forest exists down to the shore. After our coffee 
«• -%*• 
several of us took stations in a pasture near the edge of the forest 
just above the house and the dogs were put out into the woods. For 
about an hour they followed a trail back and forth on the wooded slope 
in front of us and finally a doe came down through the bushes and began 
to trot slyly across the pasture among the scattered brush. She came 
within about 80 yards of ray stand and I shot her with n^r rifle. This, 
combined with my shot at the caiman seemed to convince companions 
that I was a remarkable shot, a® they said they always killed their 
game with buckshot. The rest of the day was put in trying to get more 
deer, without success. 
The next morning we changed to another ranch on the shore at the 
head of the lake. This place had been planted to coffee a number of 
years ago but is nos? in a neglected and ruinous condition. Coffee grow¬ 
ing here under the shade of large trees is slender and tall with few 
branches and no flower buds, while that growing where the sun can get 
at it appears thrifty and has a good supply of buds, Hear this ranch 
a short time since, a dog treed a jaguar and kept it up the tree nearly 
all day by persistent barking. In the evening the tiger sprang down and 
killed and ate the dog and left. This occurred near enough the ranch 
where several men were living so that they heard the barking of the dog 
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