452 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



The Jaguar is so named in Brazil. The Portuguese have 

 called it Onca, which Linnseus adopted as its specific name. 



This was obtained a few days before I last left Bencoolen, in April. 

 It was then smaller than the Common Tiger Cat, and only distin- 

 guishable from that animal, by the length of the tail, breadth of 

 the paw, and colours. The natives assert that they do not attain 

 a much larger size than the first specimen, and, perhaps, the full 

 size of the wild and full-grown animal may be fairly taken as half 

 as large again as the present specimen.'' 



To the preceding remarks on the dimensions of the Rimau- 

 Dahan, Sir T. S. Raffles has added the following particulars re- 

 garding its manners : " Both specimens, above-mentioned, while 

 in a state of confinement, were remarkable for good-temper and 

 playfulness ; no domestic kitten could be more so ; they were 

 always courting intercourse with persons passing by ; and in the 

 expression of their countenance, which was always open and 

 smiling, shewed the greatest delight when noticed, throwing them- 

 selves on their backs, and delighting in being tickled and rubbed. 

 On board the ship, there was a small Musi Dog, who used to play 

 round the cage and with the animal, and it was amusing to ob- 

 serve the playfulness and tenderness with which the latter came 

 in contact with his inferior-sized companion. When fed with a 

 fowl that had died, he seized the prey, and after sucking the blood 

 and tearing it a little, he amused himself, for hours, in throwing 

 it about and jumping after it, in the manner that a cat plays with a 

 mouse before it is quite dead. 



" He never seemed to look on man or children as prey, but as 

 companions ; and the natives assert that, when wild, they live prin- 

 cipally on poultry, birds, and the smaller kinds of deer. They 

 are not found in numbers, and may be considered rather a rare 

 animal, even in the southern part of Sumatra. Both specimens 

 were procured from the interior of Bencoolen, on the banks of the 

 Bencoolen River. They are generally found in the vicinity of 

 villages, and are not dreaded by the natives, except as far as they 

 may destroy their poultry. The natives assert that they sleep and 

 often lay wait for their prey on trees ; and from this circumstance, 

 they derive the name of Dahan, which signifies the fork formed 

 by the branch of a tree, across which they are said to rest, and 

 occasionally stretch themselves. 



" Both specimens constantly amused themselves in frequently 



