PUMAS AND JAGUABS . 91 



creatures of all sorts had tried to get at her, but had 

 been driven off by a puma, which had stood by her side, 

 and defended her from every enemy, and, according 

 to one writer, dead and dying jaguars were scattered 

 round. 



When the soldiers came up, the puma retreated to a 

 little distance, fearing two or three men more than 

 any number of wild beasts. But when, moved to pity by 

 Maldonada's wonderful deliverance, they unbound the 

 ropes that fastened her, the puma drew near again, and 

 jumped about her, and rubbed its head on her shoulder, 

 and showed how pleased it felt that all its battles had not 

 been fought in vain. ' And in this way,' ends up the old 

 chronicler, ' she who had been offered up to wild beasts 

 became free. I knew her well, and think that, instead of 

 being named " Unlucky," she should rather have been 

 called " Lucky," and the things that happened to her show 

 plainly that the punishment meted out to her had in no 

 manner been deserved.' 



A jaguar is a very near relation to a puma, though 

 they are deadly foes ; and it is the biggest of all the cat 

 tribe throughout the continent of America, measuring 

 over six feet from nose to tail. Its skin is yellow, spotted 

 with black, and, like the puma, it is a very clever climber, 

 and can manage quite well to dine off the monkeys that 

 live up on the trees, if the solid ground is flooded. It is, 

 perhaps, the fiercest of all the wild animals of South 

 America, and it is certainly one of the noisiest. The 

 puma goes silently about its business, but the jaguar is 

 always shrieking and screaming, so its prey has plenty of 

 warning, and can often get safe out of the way. 



The jaguar is found all through America, from Texas 

 to Patagonia — an immense tract of country, that of course 

 contains a great many different climates, to which it has 

 to adapt its food and habits. In the forests which border 

 the Amazon, and some of the huge rivers of Brazil, they 

 make their lairs along the banks, or in the reedy shores 



