58 The Naturalist in La Plata. 



donada, which may be taken as proof that she 

 was among the few that survived the first dis- 

 astrous settlement and lived on to more fortunate 

 times : his pious pun on her name would be lost 

 in a translation : — " De esta manera quedo libre la 

 que ofrecieron a las fieras : la cual mujer yo la 

 conoci, y la llamaban la Maldonada, que mas bien 

 se le podia llamar la Biendonada; pues por este 

 suceso se ha de ver no haber merecido el castigo a 

 que la ofrecieron." 



If such a thing were to happen now, in any 

 portion of southern South America, where the 

 puma's disposition is best known, it would not be 

 looked on as a miracle, as it was, and that un- 

 avoidably, in the case of Maldonada. 



