THE JAGUAR. 



146 



forming an almost continuous band from between the shoulders to the tail. The black rings towards 

 the tip of the hitter are also more completely circular than in the leopard." 



The jaguar is a native of South America principally Paraguay and the Brazils but it is said to 

 have been found from the southern extremity to the Isthmus of Darien. The boa constrictor is its 

 mortal enemy. Humboldt thus describes the nocturnal life of the jaguar in his journals, written on 

 the spot : 



"A striking evidence of the impenetrability of particular parts of the forest is afforded by a trait, 

 related by an Indian, of the habits of the large American tiger, or panther-like jaguar. While in the 



THE JAGUAR, OR AMERICAN PAOTHER. 



Llanos of Verinas and the Meta, and in the Pampas of Buenos Ayi-es, the introduction of European 

 cattle, horses, and mules, has enabled the beasts of prey to find an abundant subsistence so that, 

 since the first discovery of America, their numbers have increased exceedingly in those extended grassy 

 steppes, their congeners in the dense forests around the sources of the Orinoco lead a very different 

 and far less easy life. In a bivouac, near the junction of the Cassiquaire with the Orinoco, we had the 

 misfortune of losing a large dog, to which we were much attached, as the most faithful and affectionate 

 companion of our wanderings. Being still uncertain whether he had actually been killed by the 

 VOL. II. 19 



