140 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



corroborated ; and I have no doubt the 

 panther was worn out, and very much dis- 

 gusted. 



The wild dog is very subject to hydro- 

 jihobia, and when this frightful malady makes 

 its appearance in a pack there is no telling to 

 what disasters it may lead. A mad cuyote 

 loses all dread of man or tame dogs, seeks 

 dwelling places, enters villages, and flies at 

 everything he sees : many instances annu- 

 ally occur in villages amidst the woods of 

 cuyotes entering them both by day and 

 night, and committing great ravages, as all 

 the tame dogs they bite must be destroyed, 

 and few months elapse without some ru- 

 mours of deaths of human beings occasioned 

 by their bite. 



They are sometimes bold enough, of which 

 I will give an instance : — One fine moonlight 

 night I started on a journey to avoid the 

 heat of the sun, an Indian guide riding a 

 few yards in front of me ; having passed 

 through a dense forest, we emerged into a 

 large savannah, which seemed to be pretty 

 well stocked with wild beasts, if we might 

 judge from the howling in every direction. 

 I had kept my eye upon a very large cuyote 

 that had followed us some hundred yards, 



