108 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



of man. In the event of suddenly meeting a 

 man, he will, unless too close, generally make 

 off into the wood ; but if he sees his retreat 

 cut off, or if even pressed by a dog, his tem- 

 per is roused, he will charge in the most deter- 

 mined and furious manner by a succession of 

 tremendous springs. The " rastro," or trail, 

 that the panther leaves is very much like that 

 of the Puma lion ; but there is one small dif- 

 ference that denotes to the eye of the experi- 

 enced hunter, and no other, which animal has 

 " passed that way." The panther (and here 

 let me say I must use the words tiger and 

 panther as synonymous) puts his foot flat to 

 the ground, and raises it so equally that a 

 perfect print is left on wet soil or sand ; but 

 the Puma, with a larger paw in proportion to 

 his size, on raising his paw throws a little of 

 the sand or earth behind the ball of the foot ; 

 and, though the difference is very trifling in 

 appearance, it is a great one to the hunter who 

 is in pursuit, as the habits also differ widely. 



The panther does incalculable damage to 

 the cattle and horses straying in the forest, 

 but more especially to the young ; but the old 

 bulls, and sometimes the cows, get the advan- 

 tage of him. 



A bull, belonging to one of my acquaint- 



