TEE COUGAR AND LYNXES. 127 



sad fate. This tale had made the tavn famous among sev- 

 eral tribes, to whom it was known as the Lake of the 

 Squaw's Leap; and so implicitly did they believe in its 

 truth that they could not be induced to camp in the valley 

 on any account, or even to speak of the incident except 

 with bated breath ; for it is an article of faith among the 

 red men that every time a dead person's name is mention- 

 ed he or she turns over in the grave, and punishes severely 

 those who are guilty of such a sacrilegious act as to dis- 

 turb the repose of the departed. 



I asked the Indians if they ever had any personal en- 

 counters with a cougar, and they replied they had not, but 

 that an acquaintance of theirs was attacked without any 

 cause by one while he was searching in the woods for some 

 strayed horses. The animal jumped at his throat and 

 knocked him down ; but as he was armed with a loaded 

 single -barrelled shot-gun, he sent its contents into the 

 brute's stomach, and this caused it to loosen its hold. 

 Struggling to his feet, he attempted to run away; but, 

 wounded severely as the cougar was, it leaped upon him 

 once more, and another fierce struggle ensued, the Indian 

 using his gun against the claws and fangs of his foe. Af- 

 ter a desperate battle, in which the gun was destroyed, the 

 red man came off victorious, but he was so badly wound- 

 ed that his life was despaired of for several weeks. His 

 strong constitution prevailed at length, however, and he re- 

 covered, but he was a mere wreck of what he had formerly 

 been. In answer to another query, the most experienced 

 replied that the cougar never chased its prey, but jumped 

 on it from the concealment of a thicket or the bough of a 

 tree, and he doubted if it could follow any animal by scent — 

 a statement which I am rather inclined to believe, notwith- 

 standing the assertions of some writers who say that it has 

 trailed them as a hound would a hare or a fox. I heard 

 of other incidents in the West which prove that the animal 

 is very dangerous when hungry or wounded; but if it will 

 attack man without any seemingly direct provocation, it is 

 an easy matter to understand the motive therefor. 



