f a wild mountainous
district. Sometimes they wound their way in a zig-zag manner up the
mountain sides, by paths so narrow that they could scarcely find a
foot-hold. At other times they descended into narrow valleys where they
saw great numbers of wild animals of various kinds, some of which the
Indians killed for food. After they reached the mountain district they
loosed the hands of their prisoners, in order to enable them to climb
more easily. Indeed in many places they had to scramble so carefully
that it would have been impossible for any one to climb with his hands
tied behind his back. But the Indians knew full well that they ran no
risk of losing their prisoners; for if they had attempted to escape,
dozens of their number were on the watch, before, behind, and on either
side, ready to dart away in pursuit. Moreover, Barney had a feeling of
horror at the bare idea of the poisoned arrows, that effectually
prevented him from making the smallest attempt at escape. With a
cutlass or a heavy stick he would have attacked the whole tribe
single-handed, and have fought till his brains were knocked out; but
when he thought of the small arrows that would pour upon him in hundreds
if he made a dash for the woods, and the certain death that would follow
the slightest scratch, he discarded all idea of rebellion.

One of the animals killed by the Indians at this time was a black
jaguar,--a magnificent animal, and very fierce. He was discovered
crouching in a thicket backed by a precipice, from which he could only
escape by charging through the ranks of his enemies. He did it nobly.
With a roar that rebounded from the face of the high cliff and echoed
through the valley like a peal of thunder, he sprang out and rushed at
the savages in front, who scattered like chaff right and left. But at
the same instant fifty blow-pipes sent their poisoned shafts into his
body, and, after a few convulsive bounds, the splendid monarch of the
American forests fell dead on the ground. The black jaguar is a
somewhat rare animal, and is very seldom seen. This one was therefore
hailed as a great prize, and the skin and claws were carefully
preserved.

On the afternoon of the same day the party came to a broad stream, over
which they, or some other of the numerous tribes in the country, had
constructed a very simple and curious bridge. It was a single rope
attached to an immense mass of rock on one side and to the stem of a
large tr