THE SERVAL. 533 



M. Sonini's account of the jaguar. 



attacking clogs, committing great devastations 

 among die flocks, and rendering themselves for- 

 midable to travellers, particularly in the deserts. 

 " In a journey," says he, " which I made through 

 the African forests, we were tormented with one 

 for three successive nights, and yet he avoided all 

 our attempts to destroy him ; but finding we kept 

 up large fires, he at last left us with a dismal 

 howling." 



" At Cayenne," continues our author, " the na- 

 tives have an idea that the jaguar would rather 

 destroy them than Europeans. It is not so, how- 

 ever, with the savages; for I have travelled with 

 them through the deserts, and never found them 

 to have any particular terror : they slept as we 

 did with their hammocks suspended, making a 

 little fire under them, which often went out be- 

 fore the morning; and, in short, took no parti- 

 cular precautions, where they knew themselves 

 to be surrounded by these animals." 



THE SERFAL. 



THIS ferocious quadruped is a native of India 

 and Tibet; in the Linnaen system it is denomi- 

 nated ye/w serval; Buffon calls it the serval, or 

 mountain cat, but Pennant, who in his quadru- 

 peds, likewise, calls jt the serval, makes a dis- 

 tinction between this and the former animal. 



