VII 
HABITS OF THE JAGUAR 
143 
October 12 th .—I had intended to push my excursion 
farther, but not being quite well, I was compelled to return by 
a balandra, or one-masted vessel of about a hundred tons’ 
burden, which was bound to Buenos Ayres. As the weather 
was not fair, we moored early in the day to a branch of a tree 
on one of the islands. The Parana is full of islands, which 
undergo a constant round of decay and renovation. In the 
memory of the master several large ones had disappeared, and 
others again had been formed and protected by vegetation. 
They are composed of muddy sand, without even the smallest 
pebble, and were then about four feet above the level of the 
river ; but during the periodical floods they are inundated. 
They all present one character ; numerous willows and a few 
other trees are bound together by a great variety of creeping 
plants, thus forming a thick jungle. These thickets afford a 
retreat for capybaras and jaguars. The fear of the latter 
animal quite destroyed all pleasure in scrambling through the 
woods. This evening I had not proceeded a hundred yards, 
before, finding indubitable signs of the recent presence of the 
tiger, I was obliged to come back. On every island there were 
tracks ; and as on the former excursion “ el rastro de los 
Indios ” had been the subject of conversation, so in this was 
“ el rastro del tigre.” 
The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be the 
favourite haunts of the jaguar ; but south of the Plata, I was 
told that they frequented the reeds bordering lakes : wherever 
they are, they seem to require water. Their common prey is 
the capybara, so that it is generally said, where capybaras are 
numerous there is little danger from the jaguar. Falconer 
states that near the southern side of the mouth of the Plata 
there are many jaguars, and that they chiefly live on fish ; this 
account I have heard repeated. On the Parana they have 
killed many wood-cutters, and have even entered vessels at 
night. There is a man now living in the Bajada, who, coming 
up from below when it was dark, was seized on the deck ; he 
escaped, however, with the loss of the use of one arm. When 
the floods drive these animals from the islands, they are most 
dangerous. I was told that a few years since a very large one 
found its way into a church at St. Fe : two padres entering one 
after the other were killed, and a third, who came to see what 
