For three days we rested our horses here, and amused ourselves with fishing and hunting, for which the valley afforded every opportunity, as all sorts of game swarmed and the covered ground enabled the hunter to approach it. At night the whole valley seemed at times to be alive; the tramping of flying buffaloes rang on our ears, which were close to the ground, and the yells of hunting wolves could be distinctly heard: now and then the terrible roar of the jaguar rang through the damp moonlit night, and often so close to camp, that we leaped up and seized our rifles, while Trusty replied with furious barking. The couguar or maneless American lion (panther), which is very frequent here, often raised its plaintive cry; while the hoarse, dull growl of the bear echoed through the rocks. Countless owls floated spectrally, with lengthened flapping of their wings, over this nocturnal landscape, or glided like a breath over our camp. Although we were frequently roused from sleep by this night life of the animal world, it never disturbed us for long, for so soon as we convinced ourselves that there was no danger for us, we fell asleep again. During our stay we killed a great quantity of game, of which we only used the tidbits, and thus behaved no better than all these four-footed beasts of prey, whose behaviour is after all far more chivalrous than ours. On the morning we had appointed for our departure I was awakened by the yell of a jaguar. I sprang up, and heard it again at no great distance from our camp. Our fire was rather low, and hence it had ventured rather nearer to us, and our cattle had probably aroused its appetite for blood. I made Tiger a sign to go with me, took my rifle and crawled with Trusty at my heels in the direction whence I had heard the jaguar. The grass was very damp, so that we could creep on without making the slightest noise. We stopped and listened. I fancied I had heard the puffing sound I had previously noticed with these animals, and which, I believe, is produced by their blowing out the dew which impedes their organs of scent. I heard it again, and not very far off, when suddenly the sharp snapping yelp was raised close before us, I hurried up some rocks, and saw the huge creature standing on a small clearing about thirty yards from me. The grass on which it was standing was still rather dark, and only the highest haulms displayed heavy drops of dew, while the breaking dawn was reflected in the brute's smooth yellow-black spotted body. I had fallen on one knee on the grass, when the royal brute again raised its half-open throat and uttered its murderous cry, accompanied by a blast of its hot breath, which rose like a strip of mist in the cold breeze. It stood motionless. I rested my arm that held the rifle on my knee, and everything was so still that I could distinctly hear my heart beat. I now fired, and with an awful roar the brute first rose straight in the air, then turned over and writhed in the grass.