328 



CHILE. 



Sept. 1834. 



there seldom attacks cattle or horses^ and except in most 

 rare cases, as a female having young, is never dangerous to 

 man. In Chile, however, it destroys many young horses 

 and cattle, owing probably to the scarcity of other qua- 

 drupeds : I heard, likewise, of two men and a woman who 

 had been killed by them. It is asserted that the puma always 

 kills its prey by springing on the shoulders, and then draw- 

 ing back the head with one of its paws, until the vertebrae 

 break: I have seen in Patagonia, the skeletons of guana- 

 coes, with their necks thus dislocated. 



The puma, after eating its fill, covers the carcass with 

 many large bushes, and lies down to watch it. This habit 

 is often the cause of its being discovered ; for the condors 

 wheeling in the air, every now and then descend to partake 

 of the feast, and being angrily driven away, rise all together 

 on the wing. The Chileno Guaso then knows there is a 

 lion watching his prey — the word is given — and men and 

 dogs hurry to the chase. Sir F. Head says that a Gaucho 

 in the Pampas, upon merely seeing some condors wheel- 

 ing in the air, cried " A lion ! I could never myself meet 

 with any one who pretended to such powers of discrimina- 

 tion. It is asserted, that if a puma has once been betrayed 

 by thus watching the carcass, and has then been hunted, 

 it never resumes this habit; but that having gorged itself, 

 it wanders far away. 



The puma is easily killed. In an open country, it is first 

 entangled with the bolas, then lazoed, and dragged along the 

 ground till rendered insensible. At Tandeel (south of the 

 Plata), I was told, that within three months one hundred 

 were destroyed. In Chile they are generally driven up 

 bushes or trees, and are then either shot, or baited to death 

 by dogs. The dogs employed in this chase belong to a par- 

 ticular breed, called Leoneros. They are weak, slight animals, 

 like long-legged terriers, but are born with a particular instinct 

 for this sport. The puma is described as being very crafty : 

 when pursued it often returns on its former track, and then 

 suddenly making a spring on one side, waits there till the 



