54 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



left by the puma, and whenever the birds were seen 

 circling about persistently over one place, they has- 

 tened to take possession of the carcass, discovered in 

 this way. The domestic animals, imported by the 

 missionaries, were quickly destroyed by the virtual 

 masters of the country, and against these enemies 

 the Jesuits preached a crusade in vain : for although 

 the Indians readily embraced Christianity and were 

 baptized, they were not to be shaken in their notions 

 concerning the sacred Ghimbicd, as the puma was 

 called. The missions languished in consequence; 

 the priests existed in a state of semi-starvation, 

 depending on provisions sent to them at long 

 intervals from the distant Mexican settlements ; 

 and for many years all their efforts to raise the 

 savages from their miserable condition were thrown 

 away. At length, in 1701, the mission of Loreto 

 was taken charge of by one Padre Ugarte/described 

 by Clavigero as a person of indomitable energy, and 

 great physical strength and courage, a true muscular 

 Christian, who occasionally varied his method of 

 instruction by administering corporal chastise- 

 ments to his hearers when they laughed at his 

 doctrines, or at the mistakes he made in their 

 language, while preaching to them. Ugarte, like 

 his predecessors, could not move the Indians to 

 hunt the puma, but he was a man of action, with a 

 wholesome belief in the efficacy of example, and his 

 opportunity came at last. 



One day, while riding in the wood, he saw at a 

 distance a puma walking deliberately towards 

 him. Alighting from his mule, he took up a large 

 stone and advanced to meet the animal, and when 



