24 



THE PUMA. 



Standing along its course, it brushes against 

 them, vainly endeavoring to sweep the Puma off. 



When all hope appears over, it suddenly sees 

 before it, lying across and but a few feet above 

 the path, the fallen trunk of a dead tree. Speed- 

 ing'toward it, the Doe crouches until its back is 

 just on a level with the tree's lower side, and 

 thenWith a mighty rush brings the Puma forci- 

 bly against the trunk, and the beast, obliged to 

 loose his hoM, is swept off, while the' Deer, re- 

 joicing in its- freedom, disappears- in the thick 

 woods. 



The Puma growls over the loss of his prey, 

 and, lashing his sides with angry jerks of his 

 long .tail, moves slowly away into the dense 

 bushes. 



A French hunter and trapper, Mr. Benedict 

 Revoil,;in speaking of the North American Puma 

 or Panther says : 



" The first one I killed was enormous, and yet 

 he was far from resembling the Puma exhibited 

 in museums of natural history, which are as large 

 as a Tiger or a Leopard. The Puma of the 

 United States seldom exceeds the size of a large 

 Fox, or at most," tha.t of a small Wolf. 



"The Puma's skin 'is highly esteemed by the 

 furriers of the United States, who fabricate it 

 into splendid carpets, trimmed with black bear's 



skin. I have seen at Philadelphia a saloon en- 

 ■tirely carpeted with Puma skins ; it was a mag- 

 nificent sight, and of inestimable value. The 

 sofas, the cushions, the chairs, the fauteuils, the 

 consoles, all were covered with this fur^ — as fan- 

 tastic as a page written in Arabic characters. 



'' At Mr. Pendleton's house I had enjoyed the 

 most cordial hospitality ; and one evening, after 

 supper, four of us were seated round a table', 

 when the quiet tenor of our conversation was all 

 at once interrupted by terrible shrieks proceed- 

 ing from a chamber near the dining-ball. Mrs. 

 Pendleton, it seems, had been sitting there with 

 an invalid child and her nurse, when the latter 

 opening the window, a Puma leaped from the 

 roof of the piazza, which ran all round the house, 

 to ''the sill of tlie window, ready to spring upon 

 the infant's cradle. 



" The cries of the mother and nurse brought 

 us immediately to the chamber; but. the animal 

 had taken fright, and we learned what had tran- 

 spired when it was too late to pursue him. The 

 house dogs were immediately let loose in his 

 traces; but soon returned, like cowards, with 

 tails between their legs, as' if they had fled from 

 too imminent a danger. Next morning with a pack 

 of Hounds the fearful intruder was tracked to its 

 lair in a grotto and killed." 



