11 THE FATHER OF GAME 57 



is unterrified by it, and will do its best to catch and 

 eat it. One shot usually ends the matter, but 

 should the puma be wounded, but not crippled, it 

 is likely to charge with tremendous force and fury, 

 and become an exceedingly dangerous antagonist. 



The hide is of no great value, though a favorite 

 material among the Indians of the Southwest for 

 bow and gun cases, perhaps with a half-supersti- 

 tious idea that the skin of so mighty a hunter is 

 peculiarly suited to such a purpose. The flesh 

 (usually boiled) is eaten by all Indians, and is not 

 despised by white men, since it is white and tender, 

 with the taste and appearance, when roasted, of 

 young pig. The fat of the panther is the most satis- 

 fying food of the Argentine desert, supplying the 

 craving felt by the nomads of the Pampas for 

 those nutritive elements elsewhere furnished by 

 vegetable food, there so scarce. 



Not many myths of the red men have clustered 

 about this animal, despite its great size and strength, 

 a fact perhaps due to the absence in it of attractive 

 mental qualities. The cougar leaves little to the 

 imagination. Clavigero's " History of Lower Cali- 

 fornia" informs us that 150 years ago that prov- 

 ince was so overrun with " lions " that the natives 

 were kept in absolute subjection to the brutes, 

 and were often glad to make a meal from the 

 remains of their prey. This unchecked increase 

 was owing to a superstition which prevented the 

 Indians from killing a puma or even disturbing it 



