mal was to make it gallop away a few yards, then
turn for an instant and look at him. The men whom I left in charge on
the New River cut open a hollow log containing young accouries, and took
them out. Their squeals on being seized attracted a puma, which ran
close up to the men, apparently wishing to get the accouries, when one
of them fired at it and it made off.

One evening, whilst returning to camp along the portage path that we
were cutting at Wonobobo Falls, I walked faster than the men, and got
some two hundred yards in advance. As I rose the slope of an uneven
piece of ground, I saw a large puma (_Felis concolor_) advancing along
the other side of the rise towards me, with its nose down on the ground.
The moment I saw it I stopped; and at the same instant it tossed up its
head, and seeing me also came to a stand. With its body half crouched,
its head erect, and its eyes round and black, from its pupils having
expanded in the dusky light, it looked at once a noble and appalling
sight. I glanced back along our wide path to see if any of my men were
coming, as at the moment I felt that it was not well to be alone without
some weapon of defence, and I knew that one of them had a gun; but
nothing could I see. As long as I did not move the puma remained
motionless also, and thus we stood some fifteen yards apart, eying each
other curiously. I had heard that the human voice is potent in scaring
most wild beasts, and feeling that the time had arrived to do something
desperate, I waved my arms in the air and shouted loudly. The effect on
the tiger was electrical; it turned quickly on one side, and in two
bounds was lost in the forest. I waited until my men came up, however,
before passing the place at which it disappeared in case it might only
be lying in ambush there; but we saw nothing more of it.

When returning down the portage and dragging our boats over, we saw a
jaguar sitting on a log near the same spot, watching our movements with
evident curiosity, and although the men were singing as they hauled the
boats along, it did not seem to mind the noise. As soon as it saw that
it was observed, it jumped off the log, and with a low growl made off.
From this I infer that the flight of my puma must have been owing more
to the windmill-like motion of my arms than to my voice.

During our journey across from the New River to the Essequebo, we were
cooking breakfast one morning, when we heard a tremendous rushing and
cra