438 ANIMALS OF THE 



continuance of the chase, and from the fluctua- 

 tion of doubt and expectation, which raise and 

 depress the pursuers by turns. All this an Asiatic 

 hunter is deprived of; and his greatest pleasure 

 can scarcely be more than what among us is called 

 coursing, in which the dog pursues the animal, 

 and keeps it constantly in view. 



But it must not be supposed that it is from 

 choice the Asiatics use this method of chase ; for 

 no doubt, were dogs serviceable among them, as 

 they are in Europe, they would be employed for 

 the same purposes. But the fact is, that the ex- 

 treme heat of the tropical climates produces such 

 universal putrefaction, and sends up such various 

 and powerful scents, that dogs are at first bewil- 

 dered in the chase, and at last come to lose the 

 delicacy of their scent entirely. They are there- 

 fore but little used in those warm countries ; and 

 what could they avail in places where almost every 

 other animal of the forest is stronger and more 

 rapacious ? The lion, the tiger, the panther, and 

 the ounce, are all natural enemies to the dog, and 

 attack him wherever he appears with ungovern- 

 able fury. The breed, therefore, in those places, 

 would quickly be destroyed ; so that they are 

 obliged to have recourse to those animals which 

 are more fitted to serve them, and thus convert 

 the ounce to those purposes for which dogs are 

 employed in Europe. 



The Catamountain, or Ocelot, is one of the 

 fiercest, and, for its size, one of the most destruc- 

 tive animals in the world. It is, as was before 

 observed, a native of South America, and by no 



