In the month of November, 1907, I arrived at the Isthmus of Panama to
do some zoological work, and incidentally to get a better knowledge
of the geography of the infant republic. I landed at Colon, a dirty,
dingy town of about eight thousand inhabitants, built on a low, swampy
island separated from the mainland by a narrow but deep lagoon. Here
I secured the services of two Spaniards to act as carriers, and, going
by boat some ten miles up the coast, disembarked in a drenching rain
near the mouth of the Santa Rita River.
I carried a small supply of tinned and tabloid foods, and these we
packed through the jungle to the highest point of the Santa Rita
mountains, a distance of ten miles. We made a very comfortable camp,
and after a hearty meal turned in for the night.
I slept very little, tired though I was, being kept awake by the
howlings of jaguars, cougars, and bobcats. However, after a hasty
breakfast in the early morning, I started out alone with my Winchester
strapped on my back and carrying a single-barrelled sixteen-gauge
shot-gun in my hand. I also carried a short but sharp and heavy
machete, without which it is impossible to travel in this impenetrable
jungle of mahogany, cedar, yellow-wood, and palms of various kinds,
all supporting vines of every size and character. Some of these vines
hang from a height of seventy-five feet, touching the ground and
sending out tendrils which climb to unknown heights on other trees,
thus forming a most intricate network, through which it is impossible
to see more than a few feet ahead.
[Illustration: THE AUTHOR, DR. T. A. STODDARD, WHO WAS AN EYE-WITNESS
OF A TERRIFIC FIGHT BETWEEN A JAGUAR AND A BOA-CONSTRICTOR, OF WHICH
HE HERE GIVES A GRAPHIC ACCOUNT, AND ALSO OF HIS OWN ENCOUNTER WITH A
SECOND HUGE SNAKE.
_From a Photograph._
]
I had been travelling for about an hour, trying to locate the source
of the Santa Rita, and winning every inch of ground by hacking and
slashing with the machete, when I was startled by a most fearful
scream, which seemed to come from somewhere immediately behind me. To
say that my blood "froze in my veins," even in this tropical climate,
would be but a poor and inadequate figure of speech to describe my
feelings. I had heard of the treachery of the San Blas Indians who
inhabit the country to the eastward, and my first thought was of them.
Turning round and looking back anxiously over the trail I had just
made, I saw a great commotion taking place among the vines, dead
leaves, and decaying branches which carpeted the ground, and the
blood-curdling screams I had heard rang out again and again. For
what seemed hours to me, but were really only seconds, I could not
comprehend what was transpiring so close to me, and what kind of
creature was giving utterance to such agonizing cries. At length,
however, venturing a little nearer, I discovered it to be a "tiger,"
or, properly speaking, a jaguar or American leopard, and it was
writhing in the coils of an enormous boa-constrictor. The great snake
appeared to have the side of the jaguar's head in its mouth, and a
coil or two of its body around the neck of the beast, which was making
frantic efforts to regain its liberty. The snake had its tail coiled
round a small ebony tree about a foot in diameter, and whenever the
hapless jaguar relaxed its efforts the serpent would swiftly release
itself from the tree and make an attempt to get another coil around
the body of its opponent.
I stood there fascinated with horror, and yet forgetting my fear in
the interest I was taking in this terrible fight between beast
and reptile. Presently the snake, with an incomprehensibly quick
movement--in fact, almost too quick for the eye to follow--succeeded
in getting two more coils around the body of the jaguar, but not
without receiving several severe lacerations from the formidable claws
of its victim. Then letting go the jaguar's head, where it seemed to
have a firm hold, the boa-constrictor raised its head, seemingly in
triumph, and, with its tail still wrapped round the tree, lifted the
body of the jaguar up in the air. I heard the bones crack under the
fearful strain, and with one awful, despairing scream the jaguar fell
back--dead!
During all this time I stood rooted to the spot, too spellbound to
stir. Now, however, I realized that I stood in considerable danger,
for other constrictors might be near, who would treat me in the same
manner as this one had treated the unfortunate jaguar. Taking a
hasty look around I saw nothing but trees and hanging vines in all
directions. I then decided that I wanted the jaguar as much as the
snake did, and, moreover, that I wanted to kill the snake. I had
a charge of small shot in the gun which I carried in my hand, and,
withdrawing this, I replaced it with a cartridge containing B.B. shot.
By this time the serpent had uncoiled himself from his dead victim and
also from the tree, and seemed to be dressing his wounds, for he was
rubbing his nose, if a snake can be said to have such an organ, over
the lacerations caused by the claws of the jaguar. Raising my gun and
taking deliberate aim, I was about to shoot the reptile through the
head, when I detected a slight rustling from the direction in which
I had been travelling. Turning round suddenly, I peered through the
hanging vines and leaves of the jungle, but could see nothing. Then,
wiping the perspiration from my forehead and out of my eyes, I looked
again carefully, but could not see anything animate.
[Illustration: A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SKIN OF THE JAGUAR KILLED BY THE
BOA-CONSTRICTOR.]
I was about to wheel again to secure my snake when I noticed that one
of the vines was swinging as if disturbed by the wind. Looking up,
I saw that not a leaf was stirring on the trees; there was no breeze
whatever. I thought this somewhat strange, and decided to investigate
more closely. So, taking my machete out of the sheath, I leaned the
gun against a tree and started cutting my way towards the swinging
vine. I had taken but a few steps when the vine swung rapidly
towards me. Then, to my intense horror, I discovered it to be another
boa-constrictor, hanging from the bough of a mahogany tree, its mouth
wide open.
Instinctively I screamed, ducked, and slashed savagely at it with my
machete. I drew some blood from its neck, but almost before I could
recover myself the creature swung viciously towards me again. I
repeated my first performance, not forgetting the yell, for I was far
too frightened to run. This time, however, I succeeded much better
with the machete, for I inflicted a severe wound over the reptile's
eye.
Again it retreated and again swung towards me, and thus we fought, I
succeeding at each swing in doing my adversary some damage. Once
it struck me on the left shoulder with the point of its lower jaw,
sending me reeling to the ground. Wildly I sprang to my feet and
dashed with renewed vigour into the struggle, cutting, slashing, and
screaming continually, without presence of mind enough to run or think
of my gun. Finally, in maddened desperation, I made a frantic slash
as the horrible thing was swinging towards me, and by the merest
good fortune caught it fairly behind the head with the sharpest and
broadest part of the machete, almost severing its head from its body.
Its tail uncoiled from the limb above and its sinuous body fell with a
crash to the ground. A second later there was another fall--myself. I
lay there trembling with weakness, fully conscious, but dripping with
perspiration and too much exhausted to stand.
After some time I remembered the jaguar and the live snake which lay
but a few yards away, and at once sprang to my feet, caught up my gun,
and turned to investigate. I speedily discovered the reason for the
snake's quiescence. The jaguar was rapidly disappearing down the
capacious throat of his successful enemy. Again I took careful aim,
and put the whole load of large shot fairly through the body of the
snake about two feet from its head and about two inches from the nose
of the jaguar, which was being swallowed whole. Having killed the
snake, I secured the skin of the jaguar, which measured from tip of
tail to nose nine feet four inches; it was a male, and beautifully
marked. The constrictor that killed the jaguar measured twenty-nine
feet two inches in length and twenty-eight inches round at the largest
part. The one with which I had the encounter was twenty-five feet long
and twenty-two inches round.
I reached camp about noon, covered with blood, but proudly carrying
my jaguar-skin, and just for fun I informed the Spaniards that I
had killed the animal with my ·22. They examined the skin for the
bullet-hole, but failed to find it. Thereupon I calmly told them that
I always shot animals like that in the eye, so as not to spoil the
skin! They now think the "Gringo" a mighty hunter indeed.