LEOPARDS, PANTHERS, ETC. 191 



The Jaguar is the leopard of America, and is also 

 very destructive at times. Hunger, however, is the 

 prompter ; and Baron Humboldt relates a story of a 

 native woman whose children used to play daily with 

 one which came from the forest close by. She dis- 

 covered it in consequence of the cry of one of the 

 children, who received a scratch in play from their com- 

 panion, who was a little too rough. Had he required a 

 supper, the wound would probably have been more than 

 a scratch. D'Azara, however, says he is a very fero- 

 cious animal, causing great destruction among horses 

 and asses. He is extremely fond of eggs, and goes to 

 the shores frequented by turtles, and digs them out of 

 the sand. 



Two of the early settlers in the Western States of 

 America, a man and his wife, closed their wooden hut, 

 and went to pay a visit at a distance, leaving a freshly- 

 killed piece of venison hanging inside. The gable end 

 of this house was not boarded up as high as the roof, 

 but a large aperture was left for light and air. By 

 taking an enormous leap, a hungry jaguar, attracted 

 by the smell of the venison, had entered the hut and 

 devoured part of it. He was disturbed by the return 

 of the owners, and took his departure. The venison 

 was removed. The husband went away the night after 

 to a distance, and left his wife alone in the hut. She 

 had not been long in bed before she heard the jaguar 

 leap in at the open gable. There was no door between 

 her room and that in which he had entered, and she 

 knew not how to protect herself. She, however, screamed 

 as loudly as she could, and made all the violent noises 

 she could think of, which served to frighten him away 

 at that time ; but she knew he would come again, and 



