268 PLAYFULNESS OP JL JAGUAB. 



arrival, a jaguar, which was thought to be youn, though 

 of a large size, had wounded a child in playing \vith him. 

 The facts of this case, which were verified to us on the spot, 

 are not without interest in the history of the manners of 

 animals. Two Indian children, a boy and a girl, about 

 eight and nine years of age, were seated on the grass near 

 the village of Atures, in the middle of a savannah, which 

 we several times traversed. At two o'clock in the after- 

 noon, a jaguar issued from the forest, and approached the 

 children, bounding around them ; sometimes he hid himself 

 in the high grass, sometimes he sprang forward, his back 

 bent, his head hung down, in the manner of our cats. The 

 little boy, ignorant of his danger, seemed to be sensible of 

 it only when the jaguar with one of his paws gave him 

 some blows on the head. These blows, at first slight, 

 became ruder and ruder ; the claws of the jaguar wounded 

 the child, and the blood flowed freely. The little girl then 

 took a branch of a tree, struck the animal, and it fled from 

 her. The Indians ran up at the cries of the children, and 

 saw the jaguar, which then bounded off without making 

 the least show of resistance. 



The little boy was brought to us, who appeared lively 

 and intelligent. The claw of the jaguar had torn away the 

 skin from the lower part of the forehead, and there was a 

 second scar at the top of the head. This was a singular 

 fit of playfulness in an animal which, though not diflicult to 

 be tamed in our menageries, nevertheless shows itself always 

 wild and ferocious in its natural state. If we admit that, 

 being sure of its prey, it played with the little Indian as 

 our cats play with birds whose wings have been clipped, 

 how shall we explain the patience of a jaguar of large size, 

 which finds itself attacked by a girl ? If the jaguar were 

 not pressed by hunger, why did it approach the children 

 at an? There is something mysterious in the affections 

 and hatreds of animals. We have known lions kill three 

 or four dogs that were put into their den, and instantly 

 caress a fifth, which, less timid, took the king of animals 

 by the mane. These are instincts of which we know not 

 the secret. 



We have mentioned that domestic pigs are attacked by 

 the jaguars. There are in these countries, besides the 



