A SOUTH AMERICAN TIGER."--P. 132.]

The path along the river-sands would have been voluntarily followed by
all the more irresponsible portion of the party, notwithstanding the
blinding heats, on account of its smoother footing. The cascarilleros,
however, objected that its tufts of canes and passifloras offered no
promise for their researches. A compromise was effected. The porters,
under the command of Juan of Aragon, were allowed to follow the shore,
and were armed with a supply of fish-hooks to induce them to add from
time to time to the alarmingly diminished supply of provisions. The
grandees of the party followed the Bolivians, whose specialty entitled
them to control practically the direction of the route, and plunged
into the woods to botanize, to explore and to search for game.
A system of conversation by means of shouts and pistol-shots was
established between the two divisions. The next night proved the
wisdom of this bifurcation. The united booty of earth, air and water,
under the form of a squirrel, a pair of toucans and a variety of fish,
afforded a meal which the porters described as _comida opipara_ or
a sumptuous festival. Lulled and comforted by the sensation which a
contented stomach wafts toward the brain, the explorers, after
washing their hands and rinsing their mouths at the riverside, betook
themselves to a cheerful repose _sub jove_, the locality offering no
reeds of the articulated species with which to construct a shelter.

The party, then, betook themselves to slumber with unusual
contentment, repeating the splendid supper in their dreams, with the
addition of every famous wine that Oporto and Rheims could dispense,
when they were awakened by a sudden and terrible storm. A waterspout
stooped over the forest and sucked up a mass of crackling branches.
The camp-fire hissed and went out in a fume of smoke. A continuity of