THE JAGUAR. 99 



of a surgical instrument. The Jaguar pursues the Turtle quite 

 into the water, when not very deep. It even digs up the eggs ; 

 and, together with the Crocodile, the Herons, and the Galli- 

 nago Vulture, is the most cruel enemy of the little Turtles 

 recently hatched." Jaguars have also been known to prey on 

 Alligators and Caimans. 



In another part of his narrative the traveller last-mentioned 

 relates how " two Indian children, a girl and a boy, the one 

 about seven, the other about nine years old, were at play on 

 the outskirts of the same village, when a large Jaguar, about 

 two o'clock in the afternoon, came out of the woods and made 

 towards them, playfully bounding along, his head down and 

 his back arched, in the manner of a cat. He approached the 

 boy in this way, and began to play with him ; nor was the 

 latter even sensible of his danger, until the Jaguar struck him 

 so hard on the head with his paw as to draw blood, whereupon 

 the little girl, with a small switch, which she had in her hand, 

 struck him, and he was already bounding back again, not at 

 all irritated, to his retreat, when the Indians of the village, 

 alarmed by her cries, came up to them." 



Regarding the strength of the Jaguar, a remarkable account 

 is given by Azara, and as the statements of this naturalist are 

 in general thoroughly trustworthy, it may, in all probability, be 

 regarded as true. He states that on one occasion when shoot- 

 ing on the plains of Paraguay or the Argentine, he was in- 

 formed that one of these animals had just killed a Horse. 

 Proceeding to the spot indicated, he found the victim partially 

 devoured, but no trace of the Jaguar, and the carcase was 

 accordingly dragged near a tree, to which Azara proposed to 

 return. Scarcely, however, had he gone half-a-mile, when he 

 was overtaken by the man left to keep watch, with the in- 

 formation that the Jaguar, after swimming a broad river, had 

 taken up the carcase in his mouth, and, after dragging it along 



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