I inquired of Casimiro the occasion of his success; he replied by producing a tube of bamboo about the thickness of the thumb, one end being covered with a thin membrane. On blowing through the other end, a sound precisely resembling the bleating of a young fawn resulted. It is in this manner that the treacherous hunter decoys the anxious doe, whose every motion he watches from the place of his concealment behind the branches of some tree, usually the algarrobo, of whose pods deer are very fond. This detestable expedient is, I am glad to state, rarely practised unless by hungry sportsmen; and as we were then in the midst of plenty, and venison besides not being much relished by the beef-eating population of the Llanos, we had fortunately no occasion to resort to it in any of our subsequent deer-shooting adventures.
Another device much practised by Indians in these cases, consists in assuming the guise of the great garzon or soldier crane of the pampas, whose company appears always welcome to deer grazing in the open prairie. This crane, which I have mentioned in a former chapter, as being at the least five feet in height, is mounted upon a pair of long slender legs, giving it the appearance of walking on stilts; their plumage is a dazzling white, and they have a pouch under the throat of a brilliant scarlet color. The bill, too, is quite a remarkable feature, fully a foot long and very wide at the base, which permits of swallowing at a mouthful large fish, as well as frogs, toads and snakes, of which last it partakes with equal relish. All that the hunter has to do, who intends ensnaring his deer with borrowed plumes, is to hide his own face with a mask, which must have a long bill resembling that of the crane attached to it. The mask being securely fastened on, he finishes his toilet by covering his body to his knees with a white garment.
In this simple disguise the hunter, equipped besides with his gun or bow and arrows, makes straight for the game, careful however to approach it in a contrary direction to that of the wind, deer possessing peculiarly acute powers of scent. On one occasion, I was fortunate enough to shoot three of these shy animals out of a small herd, before the rest took the alarm.
Our young attaché, Roseliano, who had witnessed the universal success of these devices, envying the achievements of his elders, determined to try what he could accomplish for himself in this line. Accordingly, choosing for his intended victim a fine stag grazing at no great distance from the camp, he forthwith proceeded on his experiment. Having no garzon’s beak at hand, nor even a white garment, with which to personate the feathered dandy of the savannas, he was for some time at a loss how to approach the game without alarming it, when a malicious companion persuaded him that he could ensnare the deer equally well if he presented himself simply in puris naturalibus, assuring him that the animal would indubitably conceive him to be a rare bird or at least a new species of garzon. Roseliano, finally convinced by these specious representations, quickly denuded himself; then, gun in hand, and taking all necessary precautions in regard to the wind, which was blowing quite fresh at the time, immediately gave chase.
At first the stag appeared to pay little heed to the enticing object, and allowed it to approach within range; but the moment the gun was raised, the stag turned round and trotted slowly off, waving his short tail defiantly. Sometimes he stopped for a little while, seeming to examine from head to foot this unfeathered biped, afterward resuming his mastications with perfect nonchalance. At such times Roseliano, with due precautions, would creep slowly toward him, when invariably the deer, almost within range, again trotted composedly down the plain, not even giving his pursuer a chance to aim at him. Occasionally he would turn about, stamp his tiny hoof upon the hard ground, and again move off wagging his little tail at him as though to say, “No, you don’t.”
Thus went each, still eluding still pursuing, for a long distance, without either seeming at all willing to part company, until the burning sun began to tell upon the bare skin of the young hunter, who experienced besides sundry painful reminders from the thorny sensitive plants under foot. At length growing somewhat desperate, he dashed ahead and sent a random shot after the deer without success, the ball striking the ground far short of the mark. The deer seemed now to think he had received notice to quit, for, to the great disgust of poor Roseliano, he at once bounded gracefully over the tall grass and disappeared from view.
Within a stone’s throw of our camp were several lagoons abounding in terrapins and turtles, whilst on all sides the savannas teemed with many delicious quadrupeds. These, on account of their penchant for the water, have been declared cold-blooded animals by the church, and can in consequence be eaten as fish; and as it was Holy Week, a grand hunt was proposed for the purpose of providing the camp with food which should be wholesome as well for the soul as the body. Accordingly, early on Good Friday morning the whole disposable force assembled in front of the ranch; and after a partial organization, all started on foot in different directions, some in quest of cachicamos or armadillos, others for galapagos and tortoises, while the less fastidious did not disdain to try their skill upon those water hogs, the chigüires or capyvaras.
The results of the hunt far exceeded our expectation, as in less than four hours nearly three hundred armadillos, and probably as many turtles, were brought into camp. The flesh of the chigüire is not much relished by the Llaneros, although it is excellent for hams when properly cured and smoked; accordingly the carcasses, the hind quarters being removed, were left to the turkey buzzards.