A JAGUAR-HUNT ON THE TAQUARY 79 



were not stanch, and if the jaguar came down and started 

 I feared we might lose it. So I fired at once, from a dis- 

 tance of seventy yards. I was using my favorite rifle, the 

 little Springfield with which I have killed most kinds of 

 African game, from the lion and elephant down; the bul- 

 lets were the sharp, pointed kind, with the end of naked 

 lead. At the shot the jaguar fell like a sack of sand through 

 the branches, and although it staggered to its feet it went 

 but a score of yards before it sank down, and when I came 

 up it was dead under the palms, with three or four of the 

 bolder dogs riving at it. 



The jaguar is the king of South American game, rank- 

 ing on an equality with the noblest beasts of the chase of 

 North America, and behind only the huge and fierce crea- 

 tures which stand at the head of the big game of Africa 

 and Asia. This one was an adult female. It was heavier 

 and more powerful than a full-grown male cougar, or Afri- 

 can panther or leopard. It was a big, powerfully built 

 creature, giving the same effect of strength that a tiger 

 or lion does, and that the lithe leopards and pumas do not. 

 Its flesh, by the way, proved good eating, when we had it 

 for supper, although it was not cooked in the way it ought 

 to have been. I tried it because I had found cougars such 

 good eating; I have always regretted that in Africa I did 

 not try lion's flesh, which I am sure must be excellent. 



Next day came Kermit's turn. We had the miscel- 

 laneous pack with us, all much enjoying themselves; but, 

 although they could help in a jaguar-hunt to the extent of 

 giving tongue and following the chase for half a mile, cow- 

 ing the quarry by their clamor, they were not sufficiently 

 stanch to be of use if there was any difficulty in the hunt. 



