202 
WANDERINGS IN 
THIRD 
JOURNEY. 
Reaches 
the falls 
of the 
Esse- 
quibo. 
the light of our fire : he was the jaguar, for I could 
see the spots on his body. Had I wished to hare 
fired at him, I was not able to take a sure aim, for 
I was in such pain that I could not turn myself in 
my hammock. The Indian would have fired, but 
I would not allow him to do so, as I wanted to see 
a little more of our new visitor; for it is not every 
day or night that the traveller is favoured with an 
undisturbed sight of the jaguar in his own forests. 
Whenever the fire got low, the jaguar came a 
little nearer, and when the Indian renewed it, he 
retired abruptly; sometimes he would come within 
twenty yards, and then we had a view of him, sitting 
on his hind legs like a dog ; sometimes he moved 
slowly to and fro, and at other times we could hear 
him mend his pace, as if impatient. At last the 
Indian, not relishing the idea of having such com¬ 
pany in tire neighbourhood, could contain himself 
no longer, and set up a most tremendous yell. The 
jaguar bounded off like a race-horse, and returned 
no more; it appeared by the print of his feet the 
next morning, that he was a full-grown jaguar. 
In two days after this we got to the first falls in 
the Essequibo. There was a superb barrier of rocks 
quite across the river. In the rainy season these 
rocks are for the most part under water; blit it 
being now dry weather, we had a fine view of them, 
while the water from the river above them rushed 
through the different openings in majestic grandeur. 
Here, on a little hill, jutting out into the river, stands 
the house of Mrs. Peterson, the last house of people 
