246 ZOOLOGICAL SKETCHES. 



before he could be driven off. Only his old acquaintances 

 could manage him ; strangers he was very apt to assail 

 with his teeth, and the dogs which were sacrificed to his 

 appetite he tore to pieces with the energy of a ravenous 

 wolf. But a still more famous fighter was Black Jan, the 

 pet of the Rajah of Samarang in Java. Jan was a Sunda 

 panther, born in captivity, whose constant practice in the 

 arena had endowed him with the nimbleness and blood- 

 thirst of a ferret. His matchless skill in defending him- 

 self against adversaries of superior size often attracted 

 the planters of the neighboring Dutch settlements, and 

 even visitors from Batavia. A Batavia journal describes 

 him as rather under-sized for an adult specimen of the 

 Pardus javanensis, but remarkably stout-limbed, and " not 

 agile but agility itself." Experience had acquainted him 

 with the weak points of all possible antagonists. A wild 

 boar he demolished by leaping upon his back and be- 

 laboring his head with his claws, a bull by fastening his 

 teeth in his throat. Dogs he fought in the regular cat- 

 fashion, — by striking at their eyes and collaring them at 

 the first opportunity. If a pack of them tackled him at 

 the same time, he would retreat to a corner and keep 

 them at bay till he saw a chance for a head-spring, his 

 favorite trick on an enemy with a dislocable neck. Jan 

 was the idol of Samarang ; but the peasants of the 

 neighborhood suspected his owner of witchcraft, and in 

 the circus the restive visitors often broke out in groans 

 when the " pet" made his appearance. 



