The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1916-04-08
On the Survey
By M. QUAD
Copyright, 1916. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.
BY M. QUAD

of exploration in the mouth Of the
Amazon. and no other field could have
been selected TO furnish more daily
adventure.
The Forward carried two six-pound
cannon as her armament. and when
loaded drew only five feet OF water
We were conveyed from Georgetown.
in British Guiana. by man-of-war /
and brig. the latter 10 anchor where
our captain directed and gemain as
store ship and haven for us in case
of disaster.
We had steam launch and two
yawls for exploration where the steam +
er could not 20 and there were six of
us ont in the launch one day making /
soundings in Il great bend. when a |
monster crocodile rose to the surface
close beside rs lunged forward and
had his head and one leg over the gun
vale before ally one saw him. The
engineer had Ratchet within reach.
and with this he gave the reptile such
| a blow as made him draw off and sink
out of sight. The launch had scarcely
| righted herself. however. when a full
| dozen more of the saurians rose TO the
| attack We should have been capsized
| and every man devoured alive had we
| been in one of the yawls. AS 1t was.
| we drove ahead full speed and outran
l them, though some of them pursued US
| for half mile, and we were nearly
swamped with the water splashed into
| the boat. A few days later. one after
| noon as the steamer came to anchor In
| a channel. the anchor must have drop
( ped among a bed of sleeping croco-
| dies They rose all about US. kissing
and splashing. and this excitement
brought up others until sixty-six enor-
nous big fellows were to be counted
at one time. They attacked the steam
er With the utmost fury. and while
their efforts were harmless their strug
giles rocked her as if she was at sea in
gale.
On another occasion one of these
monsters did us good turn. had
| charge Of one of the yawls which was
| sounding a channel The men at the
oars were pulling slowly against the
current. while the one handling the
lead was casting and calling out when
| zip. came dart. from the sound it
made. Either shore was too far off for
| a dart to reach us Over our Starboard
| bow as we pulled ahead was a long
| tongue of land reaching out from the
right hand shore and ending in pile
of driftwood. The tongue had been ere
. ated by drifting trees grounding on the
: bottom and the silt collecting to make
II 81 &~<N1-
| long look. but could see nothing. !
. | ought to have been able to detect even
| rabbit anywhere OH that tongue or
1 drift. as there were no bushes. but
| nothing whatever was in sight ] was
| in the act of sitting down. almost sat
,, | isfied that we had all been deceived
!, | when a second arrow whisked SO close
to my cheek that | thought bird had
| darted for my eye
, "A close CALL sir. and it was a poi
soned dart at that" said one of the men
| as | dropped back TO my seat The in
: fernal wretch must be in that drift
wood. though | can't see him." added
| the man with the lead line.
We held the boat stationary and pre-
pared TO signal TO the steamer, which
| was a mile below. when all of sud
:, | den fifteen foot crocodile landed OF
o the tongue of land and began crawling
toward the driftwood He had jus
y reached the pile when a native wh'
: had been skilfully concealed rose III
r with cry of despair He had a reet
a | or blowgun in his hands. and he mad
e | frantic motions TO us to save him. w
q | were consulting what TO do when tn
!. crocodile made a rush. drove him OF
r. the pile and followed after to cate
II | him in the water. As we saw nothin
of the man after that we felt positiv
10 OF his horrible fate. though we had n
n sympathy to waste
n The jagnar of the Amazon is ais
r. called cougar. puma and panther
N and he seems 10 be one and the sam
beast no matter what the name II
70 Is 1.-the. fierce and vigilant and an eI
y envy to be dreaded by even the bes
O. armed man. We often saw pumas o
n ! the shore or crouched in trees and no.
II | and then floating past us on driftin
10 logs. and their far reaching cries wer
K always to be heard at night If we la
in within a mile of the jungle The onl
met his fate at the hands of a jagus
es and under singular circumstance
nt We had landed on the right han
lis shore and then paid out our rope cab
:. by which we We're fast to tree to I
safe from a cavein during the nigh
at The anchor watch for the night co
ed sisted of only one man. relieved at i
- fervalS of four hours
.ty The man who went on at midnfg
.fv had been on duty only half an ho
lal when a cave-in took place. A strip
OF the bank. which was four feet abo
he water when we turned in dropped
he the river. and with ii the tree to Viii
ia, We We're fast. The tree fell direct
ific over the bows of tile bsat, but only !
lis top coming aboard and that wilho
ms doing any great damage We hea
the mans shouts of alarm but befo
ate any one had turned out ii was all ov
sIa with him A 1aguar nad been hidd