34 WOLF'S WILD ANIMALS. 



could enter it, he heard the cries, " Here he is ! Here he goes ! Save me ! " With 

 this the roaring of the Jaguar was heard, and mingled with it the last exclamations 

 of a fourth victim. Each party now retired, the convent people to the church, and 

 the Jaguar to his first stronghold. Mr. I rondo now approached and bolted the 

 door of the sacristy opening into the church, making the least noise he could. A 

 hole was then bored through the door, and .finally the crowd succeeded in shoot- 

 ing and killing the dreadful monsteh This terrible occurrence is explained by the 

 fact that the Convent of San Francisco in Santa Fe is situated upon the banks of the 

 Rio Bravo, which, after freshets, occasionally overflows the islands in front of the 

 town. During one of these inundations, all the animals in the thickets upon the 

 island seem to have been driven out ; among thern the above Jaguar, which made 

 for the town side, where he entered the gardens of the Convent. A low wall only 

 encircled the latter towards the river. From the gardens he entered a sntall door, 

 accidentally left open, and so came through an old back vestry to the sacristy. At 

 the time the animal entered the sanctuary from the church side, he was perfectly 

 aware that his retreat was cut off by the river-flood, and thus found himself forced 

 to the desperate attack upon man, which he was compelled to repeat several times. 



Fortunately for the inhabitants of tropical America, where this terrible 

 animal is only to be met with, it is not generally in the habit of going in troops, 

 biit ; as soon as it is old enough to kill its own prey, leaves the company of its 

 kind, and leads a solitary existence. Were it accustomed to hunt in numbers- as 

 do wolves, it would soon extinguish every living quadruped within the country it 

 inhabited ; for its powers of scent, stealthy approach, crafty disposition, fertility in 

 resources of over-reaching its prey, and the capability of ascending trees as nimbly 

 as it runs upon the ground, places almost every living creature within its . grasp. 

 Dreadful indeed would be its attacks were its powers increased many times,^ as 

 would be the case did numbers of such formidable animals consort and seek their 

 prey together. But nature is ever true to herself, and whenever any creature is 

 endowed with special powers of destruction, it is held in check, as it were, by the 

 bestowal of desire for a solitary existence. Beautiful and gentle indeed does this 

 savage animal appear, as depicted in the accompanying illustration, and we can 

 almost . hear its low-breathed purr of satisfaction as it enjoys the cooling influence 

 of the placid" stream beneath its retreat, and slumbers away the sultry hours in its 

 accustomed noonday siesta. 



