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of the fazenda, are invited to partake. It be the hour of be conversation. Frequently cards are brought out, and then sleep in completely forgotten. But, in ordinary life, the creole goes to bed early and rises early. This rule is a salutary one in the tropics.

Certain days are allotted to hunting. A superintendent is then charged with looking after the negroes. The forest abounds with deer and game of every kind, and the planter has neither gamekeepers nor the season to fear. Hence there is constant, hunt of the bear, tapir, and wild ox in these immense forests. Those hunts lasting sometimes for several days, a halt is made for breakfast at the first fazenda found on the road. Having finished his meal, the planter remounts his horse, and scours the woods the rest of the day, and seeks repose a few leagues further on at another plantation. If he has penetrated far into the forest, away from habitations, his negroes roast him an agouti, (a species of hare very common in South-America,) or cook a palm-cabbage in a bamboo warming-pan; they then construct a rancho with branches of trees, make a bed of dry leaves, surround it with mule-saddles, which serve as a protection, and then station themselves around a large fire to guard the senhor, who sleeps enveloped in his cloak. If they hear an animal approaching, they fire a gun in the direction of the noise imagining it to be a jaguar, and sometimes kill their own mules, which are feeding near them. Sometimes, too, in cold nights, the sleepers suddenly awake to shake a cobra (а poisonous snake) from their garments, which had sought to glide beneath the covering to warm itself.

These hunts are not always unattended with danger. I remember having seen an enormous jaracotinga, a trigonocephalus of the most venomous kind, dart upon the dogs, no doubt to avenge himself for having been disturbed in his repose. Four of these animals were bitten in succession. The first instantly expired, as if struck by lightning; the second lived an hour in dreadful agony, and the third survived till the next day. The fourth alone escaped the effects of the bite; the hideous reptile had exhausted his venom on the first three.

Sometimes a wounded jaguar turns upon the imprudent hunter. This animal, fortunately, is becoming more and more rare on the large plantations. He flies from the neighborhood of man, that implacable destroyer of the forests which served as his retreat. Should he chance, however, to reveal his presence by the successive disappearance of several head of cattle, a hunt is quickly organized, which is generally productive of more noise than effect; for, to find a genuine jaguar-hunter, one must go to the campos of the south, among the gaucho.

The gaucho has no need of the rifle. His horse and his bolas suffice him. As soon as he hears or sees a jaguar, he starts towards him at a gallop. The jaguar halts, astonished at such audacity. Having approached within a few paces, the horseman throws his redoubtable lasso, and, immediately wheeling about, darts away at the full speed of his horse. A fearful roaring, and the violent jerks of the lasso, tell him his aim was sure, and that the choking animal is struggling with the agonizing gripe. When the cries have ceased, the hunter alights, and, drawing his dagger from his girdle, dispatches the victim.

When the planter is not disposed to hunt, he journeys for diversion or visits among his neighbors. The extravagance he displays on these occasions is not without a certain impress of elegance and originality. Not being able to traverse the forest-paths with a carriage, he always travels on horseback, or upon