108 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



of man. In the event of suddenly meeting a 

 man, he will, unless too close, generally make 

 off into the wood ; but if he sees his retreat 

 cut off, or if even pressed by a dog, his tem- 

 per is roused, he will charge in the most deter- 

 mined and furious manner by a succession of 

 tremendous springs. The " rastro," or trail, 

 that the panther leaves is very much like that 

 of the Puma lion ; but there is one small dif- 

 ference that denotes to the eye of the experi- 

 enced hunter, and no other, which animal has 

 " passed that way." The panther (and here 

 let me say I must use the words tiger and 

 panther as synonymous) puts his foot flat to 

 the ground, and raises it so equally that a 

 perfect print is left on wet soil or sand ; but 

 the Puma, with a larger paw in proportion to 

 his size, on raising his paw throws a little of 

 the sand or earth behind the ball of the foot ; 

 and, though the difference is very trifling in 

 appearance, it is a great one to the hunter who 

 is in pursuit, as the habits also differ widely. 



The j^anther does incalculable damage to 

 the cattle and horses straying in the forest, 

 but more especially to the young ; but the old 

 bulls, and sometimes the cows, get the advan- 

 tage of him. 



A bull, belonging to one of my acquaint- 



