OEDEE OP CAENIVOEA. 375 



also be seen for a space of more than three inches ; with regard 

 to my poor nose, which was formerly aquiline, it was flattened, 

 lacerated, and smashed in a fearful manner. 



" Those who surrounded me were very sad, and less composed 

 than myself. I read in their faces that they thought me a dead 

 man ; but I tried to reassure them, by telling them that the heart 

 was still sound and cheerful. Previous to this I had often said 

 that the happiest day of my life would be that on which, armed 

 only with my hunting-knife, I should encounter a wounded Pan- 

 ther or Lion, so much did I reckon on the vigour of my arm. 

 Oh, St. Hubert, pardon this foolish prayer ! 



" Now when I read, or am told, of the larger Carnivora 

 being killed with hatchets and daggers, I can scarcely forbear 

 laughing. Is it possible to attack successfully with any other 

 weapon than a gun such a powerful and agile animal as a 

 Panther, a brute weighing from two to four hundred pounds, 

 and whose weight is more than quadrupled by the length and 

 impetuosity of its bound; a brute that falls upon you with 

 the rapidity of lightning, and before there is time to make a 

 movement of defence ? Where is the Hercules capable of resisting 

 such a shock ? 



" Notwithstanding the providential chance thart placed me on 

 the slippery margin of the ravine, and also notwithstanding the 

 other favourable circumstances that protected me, if my late foe 

 had not been deprived of the use of his fore feet, I must have been 

 lost. Even in the condition in which it was^, if I had been able 

 to seize my knife, I could not have prevented it retaining hold of 

 me. On the one hand, I could not have had strength to push 

 it off; and, on the other, I should not have been able to kill it 

 quick enough to prevent its terrible jaws from mangling me. It 

 wiU be seen, then, how fortune favoured me. If from such a 

 fearful struggle I came off with my life, it is because I was as 

 desperate in defending myself as the animal was savage in attack- 

 ing me ; but, above everything, I owe my preservation to God 

 and St. Hubert." 



The portrait of Bombonnel given above (Fig. 141) is accom- 

 panied by the head of the terrible Carnivore whose exploits and 

 death we have just recorded. 



Ounce and Serml. — The Ounce (Leopardus uncia), Fig. 143, is 



