458 TlIK TKOPICAL WOULD. 



and many of the Indian islands ; so tliat they have a much 

 more extensive range than either the tiger or tlie lion. The 

 manner in which they seize their prey, lurking near the sides 

 of woods, and darting forward with a sudden spring, resembles 

 that of the tiger ; and the chase of the panther is said to be 

 more dangerous than that of the lion, as it easily climbs the 

 trees and pursues its enemy upon the branches. 



The Cheetah, or hunting leopard [Guepardajuhata, guttata), 

 which inhabits the greater part both of Asia and Africa, exhibits 

 in its form and habits a mixture of the feline and canine tribes. 

 Eesembling the panther by its spotted skin, it is more elevated 

 on its legs and less flattened on the fore part of its head. Its 

 brain is more ample, and its claws touch the ground while 

 walking, like those of the dog, which it resembles still further 

 by its mild and docile nature. In India and Persia, where the 

 Cheetahs are employed in the chase, they are carried, chained 

 and hoodwinked, to the field in low cars. When the hunters 

 come within view of a herd of antelopes, the Cheetah is libe- 

 rated, and the game is pointed out to him : he does not, 

 however, immediately dash forward in pursuit, but steals 

 along cautiously till he has nearly approached the herd unseen, 

 when, with a few rapid and vigorous bounds, he darts on the 

 timid game and strangles it almost instantaneously. Should 

 he, however, fail in his first etforts and miss his prey, he 

 attempts no pursuit, but returns to the call of his master, 

 evidently disappointed, and generally almost breathless. 



The same radical differences which draw so wide a line of 

 demarcation between the monkeys of the Old and the New 

 World are found also to distinguish the feline races of both 

 hemispheres, so that it would be as vain to search in the 

 American forests and savannahs for the Numidian lion, or the 

 striped tiger, as on the banks of the Ganges or the Senegal for 

 the tawny puma, or the spotted jaguar. While in the African 

 plains the swift-footed springbok falls under the impetuous 

 bound of the panther — or while the tiger and the buffalo engage 

 in mortal combat in the Indian jungle — the bloodtliirsty 

 Jaguar, concealed in the high grass of the American llanos, lies 

 in wait for the wild horse or tbe passing steer. 



The arrival of the Spaniards in the New World, so destructive 

 to most of the Indian tribes with whom they came into contact, 



