It became a question whether we should pursue our journey to enable me to take my notes, and camp out and have another probable night-attack of peccaries, or return to Mato Grande. I thought a night of peace and quietness preferable, although perhaps very unsportsmanlike, and so we wended our way homeward.
It is rather unusual that these peccaries make such a brave fight in daylight, but it was chiefly owing to their accidentally finding themselves in such considerable numbers on this occasion, as they are commonly scattered over their feeding-grounds in very small parties during the day, and return to a common haunt at night, whence they sally out in immense numbers upon any foe that trespasses upon their neighborhood, like when they tracked our dogs in the Sapão.
THE PERILS OF TRAVEL.
IDA PFEIFFER.
[Among travellers there have been few more ardent and enterprising than the woman from whose writings our present selection is made. Ida Pfeiffer was born in Vienna about 1795, married, brought up and educated her two sons, and in 1842, when nearly fifty years of age, set out on a series of travels which she had long contemplated, and in which she spent the succeeding ten years. After a series of travels in Asia Minor, Scandinavia, and Iceland, she set out in 1846 on a tour of the world, which was not accomplished without great hardships and dangers. In 1851 she entered on a second journey around the world, visiting various new countries. She died in 1858. From her “A Woman’s Journey round the World” we select the following thrilling experience. She had set out from Rio Janeiro, in company with Count Berchthold, on an excursion to Petropolis, a German colony in the vicinity. Suddenly, in a lonely spot, a negro sprang out upon them, knife and lasso in hand, indicating by gestures that he intended to murder them and drag their bodies into the forest. She gives a vivid description of what followed.]
We had no arms, as we had been told that the road was perfectly safe, and the only weapons of defence which we possessed were our parasols, if I except a clasp-knife, which I instantly drew out of my pocket and opened, fully determined to sell my life as dearly as possible. We parried our adversary’s blows as long as we could with our parasols, but these lasted but a short time; besides, he caught hold of mine, which, as we were struggling for it, broke short off, leaving only a piece of the handle in my hand. In the struggle, however, he dropped his knife, which rolled a few steps from him; I instantly made a dash, and thought I had got it, when he, more quick than I, thrust me away with his feet and hands, and once more obtained possession of it. He waved it furiously over my head, and dealt me two wounds, a thrust and a deep gash, both in the upper part of the left arm; I thought I was lost, and despair alone gave me the courage to use my own knife. I made a thrust at his breast; this he warded off, and I only succeeded in wounding him severely in the hand. The Count sprang forward and seized the fellow from behind, and thus afforded me an opportunity of raising myself from the ground. The whole affair had not taken more than a few seconds.
The negro’s fury was now roused to its highest pitch by the wounds he had received. He gnashed his teeth at us like a wild beast, and flourished his knife with frightful rapidity. The Count, in his turn, had received a cut right across the hand, and we had been irrevocably lost, had not Providence sent us assistance. We heard the tramp of horses’ hoofs upon the road, upon which the negro instantly left us and sprang into the wood. Immediately afterwards two horsemen turned a corner of the road, and we hurried towards them; our wounds, which were bleeding freely, and the way in which our parasols were hacked, soon made them understand the state of affairs. They asked us which direction the fugitive had taken, and, springing from their horses, hurried after him; their efforts, however, would have been fruitless, if two negroes, who were coming from the opposite side, had not helped them. As it was, the fellow was soon captured.
He was pinioned, and, as he would not walk, severely beaten, most of the blows being dealt upon the head, so that I feared the poor fellow’s skull would be broken. In spite of this, he never moved a muscle, and lay, as if insensible to feeling, upon the ground. The two other negroes were obliged to seize hold of him, when he endeavored to bite every one within his reach like a wild beast, and carry him to the nearest house. Our preservers, as well as the Count and myself, accompanied them. We then had our wounds dressed, and afterwards continued our journey, not, it is true, entirely devoid of fear, especially when we met one or more negroes, but without any further mishap, and with a continually increasing admiration of the beautiful scenery.