THE MARISCADOR.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CV, Issue 12428, 18 February 1901, Page 2

THE MARISCADOR.

(Tlie Field.) The name "mariscador" is probably familiar to few readers. He corresponds to a certain extent to the hunter and trapper of the Western States of America, a race/which is fast becoming extinct. The mariscador, however, has a wider scope for his exertions. Living in a country where whiter is unknown, where Nature runs riot in her most tropical luxuriance, where animal life is abundant, and where the virgin forest is so rarely disturbed by the white man's footsteps that vast tracts- are still almost unexplored, his life is one of endless adventure, not without its risks, but also with the certainty of profit. It is a life which appeals to ah adventurous spirit, impatient of the restraints of civilisation, and not without its attractions to the lover of Nature or the naturalist who can live without a feeling of ennui in the solitude of these boundless wilds. Not that the mariscador always hunts alone ; on the contrary, he' generally prefers the society of a- congenial mate, who shares his hardships and assists him in his toils. Nevertheless, many hunters are to be found who pursue their calling in a solitary manner. The man who has once passed a few years as mariscador is unable, as a rule, to wean himself from the- calling or adopt any other pursuit; henceforth his life may be said to be given up to this absorbing vocation. I have known hunters after several years of this wild life, who have abandoned it to resume their former pursuits and return once more .to civilised life. But after a few months they have become restless and longed to return to their old haunts—the spirit of the wiids had become too.strong to be resisted. ' Men of all callings may be found in the ranks of the mariscador—runaway convicts and Government' officials, workmen and professional men, labourers, of all kinds, and men of leisure, "all HELF TO SWELL THE HANKS OF THE GREAT ARMY.. I speak of the mariscador as I knew Mm in Paraguay, in the northern provinces,of Argentina and in the Brazilian province of Matto Grosso. These regions, which are continuous, all possess more or less the same distinctive character, vast reaches of dense forest alternating with tracts of open or camp land, varied with swamps of greater or lets extent. A great part of the open or camp land is subject to inundations during the rainy season, when it becomes converted into a swamp. The whole of this region is well watered, being permeated by numerous large rivers, nearly all navigable by small craft. Steamers of 1200 tons ascend the Parana and Paraguay for 1000 miles to Asuncion, whence smaller steamers' plv northwards into the heart of Brazil. These rivers are 'utilised to a large extent by the mariscadors, as they form the only means of communication in the more remote districts, where the country at any distance from their banks is still almost a terra incognita. Seated in his canoe, well stored with provisions for several months, the mariscadorstarts from the riverside port which forms his base of operations to prosecute his search for gargas, toucans, capibaras (a kind of small otter), carpinchos; (water hogs), jaguars, alligators-, mirasoles (a bird with valuable plumage) and numerous other animals which infest the rivers and forests, and which furnish by their plumage or hides a valuable cargo. His rifle also helps to provide foi> his immediate maintenance large quantities of game, which abound in the woods, while the rivers are equally well stocked with fish, many of them of enormous size, for

THE LARGEST FRESH-WATER FISH IX THE WORLD

are to be found in the , inland waters of South America. Specimens of the latter, by the way, about six feet in length, may be seen in,the South Kensington Museum. It happened that fate hacl landed me, a much-wandering Ulysses, in the heart of the South American Continent. I was living in.the interior of Paraguay, in a house situated on the edge,of a large and dense forest, in front of which the view extended for milets over a vast sea-like prairie'on which grazed large numbers of cattle. The Paraguayan farmers always build their houses on the "edge of the forest fronting the open " camp," the latter affording perennial pasturage for their cattle, while the'forest land is the best for cultivation, besides supplying timber and fuel, affording shelter, from boisterous gales, and- forming a cool retreat for the cattle during the hot summer months. I had for my near neighbour a Paraguayan, a man of somewhat better education than the simple peasants who lived around. He had acted formerly as doctor of an outlying military, post, but when I knew him lie was living in peaceful retirement oil his farm. The monotony and drudgery of farm life soon palled on him, however, .and he expressed to me hisintention of setting out on a prolonged hunting expedition up the river Paraguay as far as the confines of Bolivia-and Matto Grosso. He was an experienced hunter, who had lived long-in those wilds, and-he. informed me confidentially that there, were certain, haunts of the garza which he had discovered and which were known only to him. ine garza is a species of heron, but now extremely scarce, and the feathers are worth in Asuncion about 20s an ounce. They are sa ; d to have been sold for as much as their weight in gold; but this is probably an exaggeration.'a*, it would be equivalent to •it least £4 an ounce.' Even £1 an ounce seems'a high price, but it must be remembered that feathers are proverbially light and as only the feathers of certain parts of the body are saleable, it requires seven or eiolit uarzw to yield an ounce, and considerint.- the scarcity of the birds and the hardships to be encountered in their pursuit, this cahnbt be considered a high price to pay. | '