











































































By C. F. 
WAY back in the seventies I was an over- 
seer on a sugar plantation on the west 
coast of Demerara, in England’s Sc meP 
American of British Guiana. The lif 
vas an arduous one, involving constant exposure 
colony 
to tropical sun or rain, every day and all day; 
but it was not without its redeeming features. 
The primeval forest was just outside the fence 
and Sundays and holidays afforded the toil-worn 
overseer abundant opportunity of refreshing his 
spirit by communion with nature 
in her unre- 
deemed fastnesses, or in the more stimulatin 
pursuit of the denizens of the forest and stream: 
Game was abundant in the forest, 
variety. There 
ing their congeners, 
wild hog of the 
the the ag 
the capybara and other animals 
South there were 
and the fect of these, 
to 
ntation pig-sties, 
or 
8 
and in some 
were remind- 
rginian 

deer and peccary, 
the Vi 
northern continent, 
bush-c 
one of deer, 
and the 
with t 
the paca, 
tinctive of 
of vari 
jaguar, 
and 
ese {apir or cow, outi, 
dis- 
America; 
ous sorts, 
be Id 
raids upon the pla 
the 
was enough make occasional 
Game birds 
abundant on 
the 
the waters, 

were plentiful, 
the marshes in their 
duck, all the year round; 
well stocked with fish, 
would bear 
migratory wild duck 
season, and muscovy 
too, 
species of which 
comparison with the 
fishes of other regions, both for their 
for the sport they afford the angler. 
With 
easily 
were 
many 
choicest game 
flavor and 
such facilities for 
hunting and 
the young 
fishing, 
so accessible 
bued with the Angie S 
had 
notony 
life 
It was while 
plantation 
which J 
im- 
Saxon’s love of field sports, 
opportunity for 
of the ordinary daily 
overseers 
ample the 
toil of plantation 
relieving mo- 
employed as field overseer on a 
that I had an adventure 
have often 
with a jaguar 
thought of placing 
not with any idea of vaunting my own 
but rather with the mischievous desi 
of heaping a measure of ridicule on a fel rae 
overseer who volunteered to participate in the 
adventure. 
on 
record, 
prowess, 
I do not pretend for a moment that 
such a desire argues an admirable frame of 
mind, but human nature is built that way, and 
there is a 
most of us. 
great deal 
of human nature about 
However, the years have passed and 
I have always been too busy or too lazy to com- 
mit the story to paper, 
that my quondam 
until now I am assured 
fellow able to 
smile charitably on his own share in the ad- 
venture as a ‘mere illustration of the follies of 
overseer is 





Casing. a ‘eeu 
A Story of Plantation Life in Demerara 
AMERY 
youth and inexperience, which he has long out- 
lived. 
H. was, by some years, the senior overseer, 
but was still engaged on an adjoining oie 
in work similar to mine, so we were always 
within hail. With one eye on the coolies to see 
that they did not scamp their work, it was only 
natural that the other eye should be constantly 
scanning the horizon in search of something to 
break the monotony of our task. 
On the day in question, that something pre- 
sented itself in the person of Jerry Butler, the 
negro hunter, who occasionally supplied the 
plantation mess with game, Ordinarily, Jerry, 
r his shoulder, his easy stride, 
and his troop of ae or four “Creole” dogs at 
his heels, was the ideal picture of a hunter, but 
now as he came striding along toward us on 
the canal bank, it was evident to both H. and 
myself that his spirit was perturbed by some- 
thing outside the ordinary experiences of his 
with his gun ove 
careless life. The usual following of dogs, too, 
Was “conspicuous by its absence.” 
“What’s the matter, Jerry?” asked H. and I 
almost simultaneously, as Jerry 
“Matter enough, sir, 
approached us. 
‘fore God,” replied Jerry, 
lugubriously, “tiger* gone and done kill all my 
dogs!” 
Fresh jaguar tracks were not uncommon on 
the plantation in those days, and, as before said, 
these marauders had been known to invade the. 
pigsty, or make away with a dog, but they were 
never followed up; their movements were so 
rapid and they covered so wide an area that 
pursuit was hopeless, and weeks would perhaps 
elapse before they returned to the scene of their 
former depredations. They were very rare, too. 
Probably at the period I write of, there was not 
another of the species within fifteen or twenty 
miles of the plantation. 
each 
By common consent 
one appears to reserve an area of two, 
three or four hundred square miles, as his own 
especial domain, within which he tolerates no 
poaching and beyond which he rarely ventures. 
I was not aware of this fact in those days; I 
saw in Jerry’s adventure only reliable evidence 
that there was a tiger in the neighborhood, and 
while Jerry told his melancholy tale, I saw my- 
self the fancied possessor of the 
hide. 
I had no thought of following the beast up 
“tiger’s” coveted 
*The jaguar of South America is always spoken of as a 
tiger by the Creole population, white and black. 
through the woods, I was prepared for quite 
other tactics; with a keen interest in everything 
that pertained to the chase, I was then frest 
from the very interesting study of the various 
modes of trapping big game, and had been par- 
ticularly taken One trap which, with the 
aid of a good, rough woodsman, I felt myselt 
quite competent to construct, and which I felt 
sure would be proof against all the beast’s 
efforts to escape, if I could once lure him with-| 
in its walls. This I proposed to do by the at- 
tractions of one of those ownerless dogs so com- 
mon on the sugar plantation. 
My intentions were at once communicated to 
Jerry, who grinned his approval, and proffered | 
his services to aid in the construction of the 
trap. H. at once announced his intention to| 
participate in the capture. “I’ll leave the build- 
ing of the trap to you and Jerry,” he said, “and 
| 



by 
























































I will fix things for leading him home captive; 
we can then tie him to a tree and get all the best 
dogs from the adjoining plantations and bait 
him.” 
H. sought to convey the impres- 
sion that he was a man of valor and resources, 
and being some 
had always 
years older than the other 
fellows in our mess, and given to laying down | 
the law authoritatively, we could hardly help 
taking him at something near his own valua- 
tion; but I could not forbear an inward chuckle 
as I pictured to myself my worthy colleagues in 
the act of tying and leading captive a caged 
jaguar, I little thought at the moment what 
amount of banter I should have to’endure 
for my own matter-of-fact proposal; but when | 
evening came and the story of Jerry’s lost dogs 
at mess, and H. informed the 
company that he and I had arranged to trap the 
tiger, secure him with ropes, and bait him with 
the biggest dogs available, the announcement 
was greeted with such uproarious and derisive | 
laughter, that I was eager to disclaim all share 
in H.’s mad schemes for roping and leading | 
captive the beast, and to make it clear. that my | 
own proposals went no further than to build a 
cage and bait it with dog, in the hope that the 
beast would before long return to the neigh- 
borhood and be lured to his fate. Nothing that | 
I could say made any impression on my com- | 
| 
4 
an 
was discussed 
panions; H. had presented his proposals and 
mine as all of one.piece, and as such our mess- 
The idea of 
jaguar in a cage appeared to their 
inexperience not one whit Jess absurd that H.’s 
proposals for the after treatment of the captive. 
I will admit that I was provoked, but not so 
much with the boys for deriding my plans as I 
was with H. for associating me in their minds 
with his own ridiculous proposals. I felt that I 
was in for it, but tried to hide my irritation by 
preserving a silence which I strove to render |! 
dignified, but which, I dare say, might have been 
interpreted as sullen, if H. had not diverted at- 
mates insisted on regarding them. 
trapping a 






