But as soon as he has
consumed his provisions, he then rouses himself and, like the lion, scours
the forest in quest of food. He plunges into the river after the deer and
tapir, and swims across it; passes through swamps and quagmires, and never
fails to obtain a sufficient supply of food. Should the approach of night
stop his career while he is hunting the wild boar, he stops for the night
and continues the chase the next morning. In my way through the wilds to
the Portuguese frontier I had a proof of this: we were eight in number, six
Indians, a negro and myself. About ten o'clock in the morning we observed
the feet-mark of the wild boars; we judged by the freshness of the marks
that they had passed that way early the same morning. As we were not
gifted, like the hound, with scent, and as we had no dog with us, we
followed their track by the eye. The Indian after game is as sure with his
eye as the dog is with his nose. We followed the herd till three in the
afternoon, then gave up the chase for the present, made our fires close to
a creek where there was plenty of fish, and then arranged the hammocks.
Pages:
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259