PUMAS AND JAGUARS 87 



living thing — aud if you had not seen a cat's eyes when 

 it looks at a bird, you might say the same about him ! 



But many are the stories told in South America of the 

 attachment of the puma to man, and the kindness it has 

 shown him. One day, a band of men went out to hunt, 

 and scattered in search of game all over the plains or 

 pampas. In the evening, when they all assembled to ride 

 home, one of the number was missing ; but on reaching the 

 farm, his horse was found quietly standing outside his 

 stable. It was too late and dark to do anything that 

 night, but at dawn next morning the rest set forth, and after 

 some hours they found their missing comrade, lying on 

 some ground, with his legs broken. The poor man had 

 spent a terrible night, for the voices of jaguars were often 

 heard in the distance, and most likely would have come 

 a good deal closer, had it not been for a puma, who had 

 never ceased walking about as if to guard him. When 

 the jaguar's voice became louder than usual, the puma 

 crawled silently and noiselessly away, and sounds of 

 battle came through the darkness. No more was known 

 of that jaguar. 



There is an old legend which is to be found in every 

 history of the Spanish settlers in South America, that 

 seems almost like one of the stories of the early martyrs. 

 In the year 1536, says Buy Diaz de Guzman, the Spanish 

 settlers in the town of Buenos Ayres were closely besieged 

 by Indians, and, after suffering frightful hardships from 

 hunger and thirst and sickness, eighteen hundred of the 

 unfortunate people died, and were buried, by the six 

 hundred that were left, just outside the wooden palisade 

 that defended them from their enemies. The graves were 

 dug hardly below the surface of the ground, for the diggers 

 looked up with fear between the turning of every sod to 

 see if the Indians were approaching, and the smell of the 

 dead bodies soon attracted swarms of wild beasts from the 

 country round, so that on every side the Spaniards were 

 beset with dangers. 



