Oct. 1833. 



JAGUAR. 



159 



The fear of the latter animal^ quite destroyed all pleasure 

 in scrambling through the woods. This evening I had not 

 proceeded a hundred yards^ before finding indubitable signs 

 of the recent presence of the tiger, I was obliged to come 

 back. On every island there are tracks; and as on the 

 former excursion "ei rastro de los Indios^^ had been the 

 subject of conversation, so in this was el rastro del tigre.^^ 

 The wooded banks of the great rivers appear to be the 

 favourite haunt of the jaguar ; but south of the Plata, I was 

 told, they frequented the reeds bordering lakes : wherever 

 they are, they seem to require water. The jaguar has been 

 killed on the banks of the Rio Negro, in lat. 41°; and Fal- 

 coner states that the lake Nahuel-huapi, takes its name from 

 the Indian word for tiger : the latitude of this lake is about 

 42° ; which corresponds to the situation of the Pyrenees in 

 the northern hemisphere. These animals are particularly 

 abundant on the isles of the Parana ; their common prey is 

 the carpincho, so that it is generally said, where the car- 

 pinchos are plentiful there is little danger of the jaguar. 

 Falconer states, that near the mouth of the Plata, on the 

 southern side, the jaguars are numerous, and that they 

 chiefly live on fish ; this account I have heard repeated. 

 On the Parana they have killed many wood-cutters, and 

 have even entered vessels at night. There is a man now 

 living in the Bajada, who, coming up from below when it was 

 dark, was seized on the deck ; he escaped, however, with the 

 loss of the use of one arm. When the floods drive these 

 animals from the islands they are most dangerous. I was 

 told, that a few years since, a very large one found its way 

 into a church at St. Fe : two padres entering one after the 

 other were killed, and a third, who came to see what was the 

 matter, escaped with difficulty. The beast was destroyed by 

 being shot from a corner of the building which was unroofed. 

 They commit also at these times great ravages among the 

 cattle and horses. It is said they kill their prey by breaking 

 the vertebrae of the neck. If driven from the carcass they 

 seldom return to it. The Gauchos say that the jaguar, when 



