PUMA FOUND IN THE PAMPAS. 71 



ing horizontally behind him, his ornamented balls 

 flying in the wind around his head as he bends 

 over his horse's neck, while urging him towards 

 the prey, the fiery creature seeming to share 

 his eagerness: before him, striding the wild os- 

 trich, with her head stretched out, and her wings 

 lifted up on high, as if she scorned the horse and 

 his rider; a magnificent object, which continually 

 distances the pursuer, while the Gaucho's horse is 

 often lost sight of below the horizon, though his 

 stately head still shows that the chase is undecided. 



The borderers on these vast plains are endowed 

 with a species of sagacity, which is common to those 

 who live in wild open countries : it is that of being 

 able to trace the footsteps of either men or animals, 

 where the impression is too faint to be discovered 

 by those who are accustomed to the habits of civi- 

 lized life; and to judge by a combination of trivial 

 circumstances, what has occurred, or may be going 

 on, at a great distance. Captain Head notices a 

 striking instance. While riding with a Gaucho, 

 and admiring the beautiful serenity of those exten- 

 sive plains, he was suddenly roused from his reverie 

 by his companion, who pointing up to the sky, ex- 

 claimed, "See, there is a lion." Captain Head 

 strained his eye, but to no purpose, until the Gaucho 

 showed him, high in air, a company of vultures, 

 hovering with expanded wings. " They are sta- 

 tioned there," said he, " because just below, a lion 

 is devouring some carcass, and he has driven them 

 away." 



But the favourite resort of this fierce creature is a 

 cane-brake; the haunt, too, of bears and jaguars. 



