MAMMALIA— JAGUAR. 187 



never suffers him to approach the jungle, if I may be allowed to call it so, 

 until they are able to run after her. During this period, he awaits her with 

 the most tender solicitude, and even brings her a portion of his prey. He 

 is seen hovering instinctively about the place where she is crouched at 

 noontide. When the Llanero perceives this, he envelopes himself in a 

 jaguar's skin, and approaches him, taking good care to have the wind in 

 his favor, as the jaguar's keen scent would soon discover the imposition. 

 Even this sagacity and instinct they think they have got over, by burning 

 plaintain leaves so as to take away for hours any scent which the human 

 body has ; though this is probably a mere fancy. As soon as the Llanero 

 perceives the jaguar, he runs from him on all fours, and endeavors to mimic 

 the whining cry of the beast, which by some is said to be like a cat, or 

 like hogs crouching in a sty ; the latter is what I would compare them to, 

 as I have seen them mustering by night previous to hunting. As soon as 

 the male perceives him, he bounds towards him ; when the Llanero dex- 

 terously throws the noose (the lasso) over him, and soon strangles him. 

 Sometimes he wounds him with his lance, and then a sanguinary conflict 

 takes place. As the Llanero has his left arm well bound round with tanned 

 horse skin, impervious to the jaguar's tusks, he presents his left hand ; as 

 soon as the jaguar seizes it, he is stabbed with a long knife, which seldom 

 misses the heart, as the principal excellence of a guapo, is killing the beast 

 with as few stabs as possible. As soon as he dispatches the male, the 

 female becomes an easy prey. Sometimes the Llaneros, when their num- 

 bers are complete, will, to show their dexterity and address, decoy the 

 jaguar into a defile, when the man uncovers and shows himself; the jaguar 

 endeavors to retreat, but is prevented by other Indians, who scare him with 

 firebrands, for they can produce fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together, 

 as quick as with tinder. In this manner they worry him with dogs, while 

 they keep him at bay until the women arrive to witness their cruelty. As 

 the jaguar gets frantic, he endeavors to bite at every thing near him ; as 

 often as the creature opens his mouth, he is sure to have a burning torch 

 rammed into his throat, until madness exhausts him, and he is no longer 

 able to close his jaws ; then the women and boys descend from their high 

 positions, chop off his paws, hammer out his teeth, and often skin him 

 alive, while the boys are smeared with the blood, in order to make them 

 good warriors, and the mothers take delight in seeing the animosity they 

 have to the creature, even when no longer able to do any injury. As to 

 the female jaguar, they have only to come near her crouching place to pro- 

 voke a quarrel, as she will often attack them before they are within two 

 hundred yards of it : in her they sometimes find a more formidable enemy 

 than in the male, although much inferior in point of size and strength, but 

 more subtle and crafty ; their bite is difficult to heal, and the Llanero think 

 . a wound from a jaguar a great disgrace ; so much so, that a young aspirant 

 for the title of guapo, who had the misfortune of being wounded in a ren- 



