HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 213 



attacks every living creature without distinction, 

 but happily prefers the flesh of brutes to that of 

 mankind: it will even climb up trees in pursuit of 

 Monkies and lesser animals; so that nothing is 

 secure from its attacks. 



The Panther is about the height of a large Mas- 

 tiff Dog, but its legs are not quite so long. Its 

 voice is strong and hoarse, and it growls con- 

 tinually. 



The ancients were well acquainted with these 

 animals. The Romans drew prodigious numbers 

 from the deserts of Africa, for their public shows: 

 sufficient, one might suppose, to have entirely ex- 

 hausted them. Scaurus exhibited an hundred and 

 fifty of them at one time; Pompey four hundred 

 and ten; and Augustus four hundred and twenty. 

 They probably thinned the coasts of Mauritania of 

 these animals ; but they still swarm in the southern 

 parts of Guinea. 



In China, there is a most beautiful animal of this 

 kind, called Louchu, the skin of which sells for six 

 pounds sterling. 



An animal of this species is likewise found in 

 Asiatic Tartary, called there the Babr. It is seven 

 feet long, extremely rapacious, and very destructive 

 of Horses and Camels. Its skin is very fine, and 

 valued in Russia at one pound sterling. 



