The Puma 269 



Florida was passing through a swamp one night, when he 

 was attacked by a puma. The negro was " a man of colos- 

 sal size and fierce and determined temper." Moreover, he 

 carried one of the heavy knives that are used in cutting 

 cane. Both parties were killed after a long and desperate 

 struggle, whose traces were plainly impressed upon the 

 spot. But here it appears that a man was assailed, and 

 that the beast continued its attempts to kill him after dis- 

 covering that he was armed, and persisted in its attack as 

 long as life lasted. 



One evening as the author was riding towards a haci- 

 enda in Sinaloa, and was about half a league distant from 

 it, a girl rushed to the edge of a thicket and began to 

 scream for help. Galloping up, it appeared she had just 

 discovered the body of her father, killed apparently by a 

 puma, who lay dead beside him. Life was not extinct, 

 however, although he was very badly wounded. He said 

 that while passing, the bellowing of an ox, mingled with 

 the cries of some kind of beast, induced him to make his 

 way to the scene of action. There he found a large lion, 

 as he called it, engaged in a fight with a steer, whom he 

 had injured severely, and who was rapidly losing blood. 

 As soon as the man appeared, the beast left the ox and 

 made at him. There was scant time to roll his serape 

 around his left arm, and draw the long knife which every 

 ranchero wears in the bota on his right leg, before he found 

 himself in deadly conflict. 



In these three anecdotes we have a very clear refutation 

 by facts of several points with regard to this brute's char- 

 acter, which have been generally accepted as settled. 



