The Puma, or Lion of America. 47 
from his cheek, laying the bone bare. After in- 
flicting this terrible punishment and eyeing its 
fallen foe for a few seconds it trotted quietly away. 
The wounded man succeeded in getting on to his 
horse and reaching his home. The hanging flesh was 
restored to its place and the ghastly rents sewn 
up, and in the end he recovered: but he was dis- 
figured for life; his temper also completely changed ; 
he became morose and morbidly sensitive to the 
ridicule of his neighbours, and he never again 
ventured to join them in their hunting expeditions. 
IT inquired of the comandante, and of others, 
whether any case had come to their knowledge in 
that district in which the puma had shown anything 
beyond a mere passive friendliness towards man ; in 
reply they related the following incident, which had 
occurred at the Saladillo a few years before my 
visit: The men all went out one day beyond the 
frontier to form a cerco, as it is called, to hunt 
ostriches and other game. The hunters, number- 
ing about thirty, spread themselves round in a vast 
ring and, advancing towards the centre, drove the 
animals before them. During the excitement of the 
chase which followed, while they were all engaged 
in preventing the ostriches, deer, &c., from doubling 
back and escaping, it was not noticed that one of 
the hunters had disappeared ; his horse, however, re- 
turned to its home during the evening, and on the 
next morning a fresh hunt for the lost man was 
organized. He was eventually found lying on the 
ground with a broken leg, where he had been thrown 
at the beginning of the hunt. He related that 
about an hour after it had become dark a puma 
