The National tribune., 1898-06-02

reliable, weak-Shooung Smooth-bores, anc
in most cases these people had nothing
more effective than bows and arrows o.
SDears-weaponS that such an animal as
this encounters upon fair terms, and will
do as much, or more, harm against than Is
likely to be inflicted in return. The result
was that iaguars were bold and natives
timid-all save professional tiger hunters
Those vast forested regions at which we
had arrived are dominated by iaguars.
They have the upper hand there, like true
tigers and lions in certain parts OF Asia
and Africa. Mems minds are full of them;
traditions, superstitions, and stories about
ell tigre the tiger have taken possession
OF everyone's memory and Imagination
1t was at the feast of Saint Theresa that
our hunt after this beast began, and the
scene itself merits some description. The
priest in charge is chief manager of any
religious pageant, but his congregation
soon gets beyond control. Evening
htanies, sung at the beginning OF this sea-
son by women dressed in vivid calicoes
and wearing wreaths of wild flowers, give
place, as excitement grows stronger, to a
strange intermi.ture of Christian and
heather rites. Hymns and savage chants
to deities of the wood and stream inter
nlingle with strange and impressive earn
estness. Dramatic dances belonging to the
rituals of their old gods are performed in
honor of the saint. Wild masquerades--in
J,
hgers, panthers, tapirs, deer, magoary
storks, and any animals that these In
dams once venerated as their real ances-
tors, figure-show no race memory, half
unconsciously, keeps primitive supersti-
tons alive in the presence OF another civil
cation and new faith.
1t was the last night of Saint Theresa's
festival. Everybody kept open house, and
everything from which fermentation and dis
tillatOn could produce alcohol had been
utilized to make drink. Bonfires bIazed, and
tho community beat wooden drums, blew
horns, twanged wire stringed guitars, sang,
shouted, danced, and did many things
which they ought not to have done, with
out any compunctiOn whatever. We looked
on. Amidst this glare and clamor three
men approached, and one stated that. hav-
ing been engaged in devotional exercises
for some days, ill-luck at cards and many
necessary expenses connected with the
season had at length left him without
funds; whereupon, like a cavalier and a
Christian, he had sent his son home for
more money, but this unfortunate had been
slain on the way by iaguar-and would
we come and kill it? Yes! Then let the
hsots OF heaven bless us, moreover was it
not necessary that we should drink
together
One might as well refuse to eat salt with
an Arab, as decline cup prof1ered by one
of these people; but we finally slipped
away, 10 prepare Ioi TIE ldRUdf -Iluft.
Starting from Ega while the morning
mists were rolling away, we went rapidly
down stream. Towards noon we finally
entered a narrow, winding channel, damp
and comparatively cool, completely shaded
by an over arching canopy of foliage.
Ribiera, the man whose Son had been
killed, said that the spot where he so
confidently expected to crafty his revenge
lay on the other side of clearing situated
between an affiuent of the Amazon and
this bayou by which we came. Landing
on its bank and tramping through several
miles of tolerably open forest, Ribieras
settlement at length was reached, and it
merely consisted OF an irregular cluster of
grass rooted sheds, standing amidst
wretchedly cultivated fields, half over
grown with brush and weeds.
The iaguar we were hunting, a creature
of immense size, had established himself
in that locality some months before. He
began by killing an Indian; and like every
man eater-tiger, lion or panther-having
once found out the ease which human
beings can be caught and destroyed, it
continued it murders. That made no
difference to these Brazilians so long as
natives alone suffered; but when young
Ribiera was torn off his horse and slaugh-
tered, the matter became serious. Hence
our summons and plan for us to occupy
the narrow neck of this peninsula while
every man, boy and dog should take part in
rousing the jaguar and driving it towards
our station.
We did not start early. To do SO is mis-
take when beating for nocturnal beasts of
prey, who are liable to return 10 their LARS
after daylight, and generally sun them
selves awhile before retiring. BY 10 o'clock,
being about 20 yards apart, and shaded by
trees, against whose stems stood spare
rifles. On one side ran creek, while the
bayou lay opposite, and neither case thel
shores were rendered inapaesable on ac-
count Il soSt. deep mud, 10 that il The