54 The Naturalist in La Plata. 
left by the puma, and whenever the birds were seen 
circling about persistently over one place, they has- 
tened to take possession of the carcass, discovered in 
this way. The domestic animals, imported by the 
missionaries, were quickly destroyed by the virtual 
masters of the country, and against these enemies 
the Jesuits preached a crusade in vain: for although 
the Indians readily embraced Christianity and were 
baptized, they were not to be shaken in their notions 
concerning the sacred Chimbicd, as the puma was 
called. The missions languished in consequence ; 
the priests existed in a state of semi-starvation, 
depending on provisions sent to them at long 
intervals from the distant Mexican settlements ; 
and for many years all their efforts to raise the 
savages from their miserable condition were thrown 
away. At length, in 1701, the mission of Loreto 
was taken charge of by one Padre Ugarte, described 
by Clavigero as a person of indomitable energy, and 
oreat physical strength and courage, a true muscular 
Christian, who occasionally varied his method of 
instruction by administering corporal chastise- 
ments to his hearers when they laughed at his 
doctrines, or at the mistakes he made in their 
language, while preaching to them. Ugarte, like 
his predecessors, could not move the Indians to 
hunt the puma, but he was a man of action, with a 
wholesome belief in the efficacy of example, and his 
opportunity came at last. 
One day, while riding in the wood, he saw at a 
distance a puma walking deliberately towards 
him. Alighting from his mule, he took up a large 
stone and advanced to meet the animal, and when 
