Information respecting Botanical Travellers, 263 



scarcely anight passes in which they do not commit ravages. They 

 do not eat much of any they kill, perhaps ten or twelve pounds, and 

 principally of the breast ; but they prefer killing fresh every time 

 they are hungry. When out of the reach of cattle farms or the wild 

 herds on the savannahs, they subsist on Peccaris, Capabyras, Tapirs, 

 and Deer*. 



Not less destructive is the Turtle-tiger, a species or variety of the 

 former. They are of the same strong build as the greater jaguar, 

 and very much resemble it both in form, colour, and disposition of 

 its spots f, but they are about a third less in size. In the vicinity of 

 human habitations they commit great ravages among domestic ani- 

 mals ; Hogs, Sheep, Goats, &c. are alike exposed to their attacks, 

 but I never heard of an authenticated instance of their attacking 

 man, although they will come boldly to his habitation, and even enter 

 the houses and carry away the dogs from the fireside. 



I fear much that by relating the following instances of boldness I 

 run the risk of being accused of exaggeration ; but as I was not the 

 only witness of the singular feats of one of that species I hesitate the 

 less, as it is characteristic of its mischievousness. At my return, in 

 February 1837, from a pedestrian tour in search of the sources of the 

 Essequibo, two of the gentlemen belonging to the expedition, who 

 had been awaiting me at Curassawaka, a settlement of Caribis at the 

 Rupununi, complained much that they as well as the Indians had 

 been lately much annoyed by a jaguar, or tiger as it is vulgarly 

 called, which prowled almost nightly about the settlement, and had 

 carried away a young puppy from below the Indian hut. They ob- 

 served, that one of my dogs, which I had lately bought, appeared to be 

 the only one which, although he did not attack the unwelcome guest, 

 at least kept him at bay. My tent was pitched that night several 

 yards distant from the Indian huts, and before I went into my ham- 

 mock I placed another, which had just been returned to me after 



* It has been stated that the larger jaguar does not attack man when 

 unannoyed. I know of several instances contradictory to this belief, and 

 the most striking example is one of the Indians who have accompanied me 

 to London, and who offers the evidence of the attack on his bodv. When a 

 boy-of eight or nine years of age, he was accompanying his grandmother to 

 the provision field, and loitered a short distance behind, when a jaguar 

 rushed from the bush and seized him. His grandmother had however 

 presence of mind enough to attack the jaguar with a cutlass which she had 

 in her hand, and obliged it to drop its prey. Four large scars in the vicinity 

 of the clavicle will attest to his last day the fierceness of the jaguar. 



f I have not seen the representation which Major Hamilton Smith has 

 given of the lesser jaguar, but from his description I have little doubt that 

 it is identical with the above. 



