MAMMALIA—JAGUAR. 187 
never suffers him to approach the jungle, if I may be allowed to call it so 
until they arc 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 
noonctide. 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 scon 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 
oody has; though this is probably a mere fancy. As soon as the Llanero 
perceives the jaguar, he runs from him on al] 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 ina 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 subt.e 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 guwapo, who had the mis ortune of being wounded in a ren- 
