136 
THE GOLDEN RIVER, 
like teeth. Though quite small, rarely reaching 
two pounds, ‘their voracity, fearlessness and 
number/ Dr. Gunther says, ‘render them a 
perfect pest in many rivers of tropical 
America. 5 They attack man or any animal 
that goes into the water. Their jaws are so 
strong that these little fiends can bite off a finger 
or toe, or take out a solid piece of flesh at one 
mouthful. The smell of blood maddens them, 
and they collect round their victim in thousands, 
and tear him to bits. Many men have been 
killed : some torn to pieces in sight of their 
comrades, powerless to save them. Many more 
have been mutilated in a horrible way. Presi¬ 
dent Roosevelt says that in every river town on 
the Paraguay were to be found men who had 
been thus mutilated, and some of his party were 
badly bitten. Where they abound it is mad¬ 
ness to go into the water. They can tear a 
wounded alligator to pieces. 
So much for what is recorded: my own 
experience, perhaps fortunately, is limited. 
We caught one on the Parana on a hand-line. 
But they were not common there, and bathing 
is quite safe. In the Paraguayan Chaco, in a 
tributory of the Pilcomayo, one of the many 
called Rio Negro, they abounded: my com¬ 
panion landed seventeen when hand-lining: 
and yet here too they were not dangerous, for 
not only our mule swam the river unharmed, 
but two of our party. Still, I do not think any 
