44 THE FRIENDLY PUMA 



subject of a very careful essay. This carefulness is the 

 mark of all his work, which, as we have said, was 

 intended to set Buffon right, and to give facts only. 

 He knew that the young were spotted c like a female 

 jaguar,' and he notes that he had ' never heard that 

 they have assaulted or attempted to attack man, nor 

 boys, nor dogs, even when they encounter them asleep ; 

 on the contrary, they run away or conceal themselves, 

 showing fear ; and as their speed is inferior to that of a 

 horse, a mounted man easily overtakes them/ He is 

 mistaken as to the dogs, for pumas are sometimes 

 particularly hostile to them. A tame puma, when 

 following its master obediently, has been known to rush 

 through a crowd in chase of a dog. The instances of its 

 tameness in captivity cited by Azara are interesting. A 

 village priest had one raised from a cub, which ran loose 

 like a dog. It was given to Azara, who kept it on a 

 chain, but it ' was as tame as a dog, and very playful/ It 

 played with everyone, and took great delight in licking 

 the skin of his negroes. ' On presenting it with an 

 orange or any other thing, it handled it with its fore- 

 paws, playing with it in the same way as a cat does 

 with a mouse. It caught fowls (its one form of 

 mischief) with the same stratagems and cunning as a 

 cat, not omitting the movement of the extremity of its 

 tail. ... I never saw it irritated. When rubbed or 

 tickled it lay down and purred like a cat. My negroes 



