AN ALARM. 276 
might hear the report, now thought it high time 
to shoot, so he fired, and killed him in his tracks. 
“The skin,” as he informed us, “was so beauti- 
ful, it was a pleasure to look at it.” 
These skins are very highly prized by the 
Mexicans, and also by the Rangers; they are 
used for holster coverings and as saddle cloths, 
and form a superb addition to the caparison of a 
beautiful horse, the most important animal to 
the occupants of the prairies of Texas, and upon 
which they always show to the best advantage. 
In a conversation with General Houston at 
Washington city, he informed us that he had 
found the jaguar east of the San Jacinto river, 
and abundantly on the head waters of some of 
the eastern tributaries of the Rio Grande, the 
Guadaloupe, ete. 
These animals, said the general, are sometimes 
found associated to the number of two or more, 
together, when they easily destroy horses. and 
other large quadrupeds. On the head waters of 
the San Marco, one night, the general’s people 
were aroused by the snorting of their horses, but 
on advancing into the space around could see 
nothing, owing to the great darkness. The 
horses having become quiet, the men returned 
to camp and lay down to rest as usual, but in 
the morning one of the horses was found to have 
been killed and eaten up entirely, except the 
