76 WILB ANIMALS. 



Jaguars are described as being untamable, but this is some- 

 what of an error, for many eases of their being tamed are on 

 record ; however, they are very uncertain in their temper, and are 

 always dangerous in consequence. They are also to be mistrusted 

 from their propensity, in common with the leopard, to attack 

 children and dogs. 



Mr. Oswald observes, " Only stupid brutes are untamable, and in 

 spite of his ferocious instincts the jaguar is not deficient in those 

 higher soul-elements which qualify animals for the coApanionship 

 of man. Under kind treatment and a judicious mixture of vege- 

 table and animal diet, the tigroncitos (Spanish young jaguars) 

 usually grow up into amicable and most interesting pets, and are 

 found in the peaceful fellowship of monkeys, dogs, and black 

 racoons, on many ranchos of Southern Mexico. They follow 

 their master like dogs, share his seat in the chimney-corner, search 

 his pockets for playthings, and greet his return from a journey or 

 a hunting expedition by embracing his knees and licking his 

 hands or the lapels of his coat with indefatigable fervour. They 

 climb and explore a stranger like a tree, and if he encourages their 

 familiarity, they have a curious way of encircling his neck with 

 their fore-paws, and hang thus for minutes together, expressing 

 their affection by a snoring purr, or by gently rubbing their ears 

 against his chin. In their rough-and-tumble gambols with dogs 

 they generously forbear to make use of their claws, but the spectacle 

 of a iond-fide fight seems to excite their dormant combativeness, 

 and, without any apparent cause for personal resentment, tame 

 jaguars have been known to rise from their couch with an ominous 

 growl and eyes expressive of murderous intent, if two urchins 

 fought or a dog got a thrashing in the opposite corner of the room. 

 In other ways, too, their savage instincts assert themselves now 

 and then ; and the proprietor of a wayside tavern in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Uxmal, told me that he had to part with a tame tiger 

 because in warm winter nights, when it heard the yells of its wild 

 brethren from the depths of the lagotasso, the creature frequently 

 took it into its head to answer these calls, and startled the inmates 

 of the farmstead from their midnight slumbers by a demoniac 

 scream, which was repeated by all the echoes of the surrounding 



