The day gradually drew to a close, and finally darkness settled over the landscape, but there was no sign of the hunting-party. The captain, therefore, began to cruise up and down the river, giving frequent blasts of the ship’s whistle, for it was feared that the hunters might have become lost. After an hour or so we suddenly rounded a sharp bend and heard a loud voice singing cheerfully somewhere on the bank. A boat was sent in the direction whence the sound came, and after a short time it returned with Colonels Roosevelt and Rondon. They had been pursuing the jaguar through forest and swamp for twelve hours on foot, and without food or drink. Their clothing was torn and covered with mud; it had been necessary to swim frequently, in their clothes, holding their rifles above their heads; the lagoons were infested with piranhas and crocodiles. In running through the vegetation fire-ants and wasps had been swept from the leaves and branches, and the insects had been quick to retaliate with bites and stings. But Colonel Roosevelt had enjoyed the experience thoroughly and at once sat down to a hearty dinner, during the course of which we heard the story of the hunt. Kermit returned some hours later. Most of the camaradas were so tired they spent the night in the forest and did not come in until late the next morning.
We always passed the nights ashore; the temperature in our cabin aboard the Nyoac was 118° F., so we much preferred to sling our hammocks among the trees, where it was cooler. One morning upon awakening I was surprised to see the gently waving palm-leaves overhead. It seemed queer that I should have forgotten to adjust the mosquito net the night before; but an investigation showed that the greater part of the netting had been carried away during the night by the carregador ants. In my several experiences with these insects I have never known them to carry away woollen clothing, but all articles of cotton to which they had access were destroyed.
The jabiru storks were nesting on the São Lourenço; we saw several of their great platform nests of sticks perched in the crotches of giant trees. The young storks, two in number and fully feathered, were continually exercising their limbs by running back and forth in the nest, flapping their wings all the while, preparatory to launching forth into the big world. If we tossed short sticks up to them they caught them in their bills, held on for a few moments, then dropped them. Caimans were particularly plentiful on the upper Paraguay. Scores of the evil-looking reptiles lay on the sand-banks, with wide-open mouths and staring, glassy eyes. A fringe of trees flanked the water; through them we could see the boundless wastes of pantanales beyond. Troops of black howler monkeys ambled leisurely away as the boat drew near; the males only were black, the females being of a straw-color. There were immense flocks of a species of gray-throated, green parrakeets; some of them were building enormous nests of sticks in the branches. When a single tree contained three or four of the huge structures, its strength was strained to the breaking-point, for some of the nests were five or six feet across and contained hundreds of pounds of material; but not all of them were of this size; some were composed of no more than an armful of sticks and were occupied by a single pair of birds. The larger ones harbor dozens of birds. The nesting cavities had been in the under-side of the structures; entrance to them was gained through tubular openings underneath.
The number of water-birds in the pantanales bordering the upper Paraguay is almost unbelievably large. There were such countless thousands of cormorants and anhingas that they confused the eye. Colonel Roosevelt never permitted useless slaughter, and when one day, one of the camaradas forgot himself and shot a bird, he was compelled to go for it in a rowboat; then the bird was skinned and preserved. After that no one ventured to shoot at the winged hosts. Egrets were present in such vast numbers that the trees were white with them; and when they flew the twinkling wings filled the air like snowflakes. They were not molested in this locality for the reason that their habitat is impenetrable. I later learned in another region that thousands of these birds are killed for their plumes, in a most atrocious manner. About the time the egret’s feathers are at their best, which is also the time when the nests are filled with young birds, the annual floods have begun to recede, leaving small lakes and marshes teeming with imprisoned fish, such as we had seen en route to Rancho Palmiras. This is the season of harvest for the water-birds, and they repair daily to some favorite resort to gorge on the luckless fish. The plume-hunters, taking advantage of this combination of circumstances, collect quantities of fish, poison them, and then scatter them over the birds’ feeding-grounds. Occasionally poisoned shrimp are used if the inundations extend beyond the usual time. This method is, of course, cheaper than shooting; the birds are not frightened away as they are by the loud reports of guns, and the success of such relentless persecution must be obvious. A whole colony could be exterminated in its feeding-grounds even if the rookery is impregnable.
São Luis de Caceres was reached January 5, and at noon the next day the Nyoac weighed anchor again and started up-stream. A short stop was made at a small landing called Porto Campo, where a few days’ hunt produced tapirs, deer, and white-lipped peccaries. January 13 found the expedition aboard a launch, struggling against the swift current of the Sepotuba. A heavy house-boat full of provisions and luggage was towed alongside, and we made not over a mile an hour. The end of the river journey came on January 16. We had reached Tapirapoan, the farthest outpost on the frontier, and immediately preparations were begun for our long dash across the chapadão of Matto Grosso.
CHAPTER XV
A FORTY DAYS’ RIDE THROUGH WILDEST MATTO GROSSO
Tapirapoan presented a scene of festive gayety upon the arrival of the expedition. The large, open square around which clustered the low, mud-walled huts was decorated with lines of pennants, while the American and Brazilian flags fluttered from tall poles in the centre. Flag raising and lowering were always impressive ceremonies; everybody lined up and stood at attention while the banners were elevated or taken down, as the case might be, to the strains of martial music. However, if Tapirapoan bore a festive outward appearance, it acted merely as a mask to cover up the general confusion that even a casual inspection could not fail to disclose. Numbers of horses, mules, and oxen had been gathered from the surrounding country; an array of natives or camaradas who were to have charge of the animals and the impedimenta, had assembled, and several warerooms were filled with provisions and equipment. To organize properly a cavalcade of such vast proportions required some little time—in fact just six days. We did not particularly regret the delay, for it gave us an opportunity of making daily excursions into the near-by country. This was mostly of an open character and yielded no big game, but it teemed with interesting little creatures. Several small tracts of land were fenced in and planted in maize, and it was wonderful to note how these restricted areas had been discovered by small rodents which apparently came from the surrounding wilds, found an abundance of food and favorable conditions, and multiplied so rapidly that within a short time they were so abundant as to be decidedly harmful. One would almost expect their natural enemies to increase in the same proportion, but such was obviously not the case. Wherever there was a patch of ground under cultivation, rats and mice teemed, particularly the latter, belonging to the genus Oryzomys; they are several times the size of a house mouse, have rather short tails, and are of a very deep brown color. The small burrows in which they live are made at the bases of weed-stalks, bushes, and under fences and logs; or, lacking these protective agents, they dig down into the ground almost anywhere. If one sits still for a few minutes, preferably at dusk, they may see the beady-eyed little animals steal forth, whiskers twitching nervously, and ears alert to catch any sound which might apprise them of danger. I have never seen them go very far from the protection of their underground runways; and even while nibbling hurriedly at some tempting bit of food, they frequently dash away suddenly, then stop short, look around, and come back—all apparently without the slightest provocation.
Some of the men had caught a huge tortoise known in various parts of South America as the morrocoy, farther down the river. This became a sort of general pet, and while it was at first intended to use “Lizzie”—for that was the name that had been given to the friendly, inactive creature—for food, it was later decided that the animal was worthy of better treatment. It was therefore agreed upon that Lizzie should go to the Bronx Zoo. A comfortable crate was constructed, and just before loading it on the launch bound down-stream, we gathered around the box and dropped an abundant supply of sliced melon and other succulent food through the bars. Then we learned an interesting bit of natural history. One of the camaradas had stood by until he thought enough perfectly good food had been wasted on the tortoise. “Don’t give her all that,” he advised, “a turtle is just like the camel and the elephant; it can go six months without eating.” We were glad to learn later that Lizzie survived the trip to New York, and proved to be the largest of her species in the Zoo collection.
Order was finally restored out of chaos, and each member of the party was given a mule and a complete saddle outfit. The pack-animals were divided into squads, each in charge of a chief mule-man and his assistants; then the impedimenta were sorted out and arranged for easy and quick packing on the mules.