II. HISTORY. 



THE history of the panther seems to be as old as 

 the Indians themselves. The Erie tribe who 

 were blotted out by the Iroquois in 16r)() were 

 called the Yenresh, or "the long tailed," which was 

 Gallicised into "Eri," hence Erie, "the place of the 

 panther." The French called the Erie, "Nation du 

 Chat," or Cat Nation, which was simply a translation 

 of Yenresh, the name of the panther. Nation du Chat 

 means "Panther Nation," which is the real name of 

 the Erie. 



From the earliest times the Pennsylvania lion has 

 been unjustly feared. The first Swedish settlers on 

 the Delaware hunted it unmercifully. They could not 

 l)ut believe that an animal which howled so hideously 

 at night must be a destroyer of human life. When 

 William Penn first landed at Philadelphia the range of 

 the panther still extended to the outskirts of the city 

 of Brotherly Love. In a letter to his friends in Eng- 

 land, written during his first visit to his province, he 

 said: "Of living creatures, fish, fowl, and the beasts 

 of the wood, here are divers sorts, some for food and 

 profit, and some for profit only ; for food as well as 

 profit, the elk, as big as a small ox ; deer, bigger than 

 ours, beaver, raccoon, rabbits, scjuirrels, and some eat 

 young bear and commend it. The creatures for profit 

 only, by skin or fur, and which are natural to these 

 parts, are the wild cat, panther, otter, wolf, fisher, 



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