148 



CHARLES DARWIN 



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 un- 

 roofed. They commit also at these times great ravages 

 among cattle and horses. It is said that they kill their prey 

 by breaking their necks. If driven from the carcass, they 

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

 wandering about at night, is much tormented by the foxes 

 yelping as they follow him. This is a curious coincidence 

 with the fact which is generally affirmed of the jackals ac- 

 companying, in a similarly officious manner, the East Indian 

 tiger. The jaguar is a noisy animal, roaring much by night, 

 and especially before bad weather. 



One day, when hunting on the banks of the Uruguay, I 

 was shown certain trees, to which these animals constantly 

 recur for the purpose, as it is said, of sharpening their 

 claws. I saw three well-known trees; in front, the bark 

 was worn smooth, as if by the breast of the animal, and on 

 each side there were deep scratches, or rather grooves, ex- 

 tending in an oblique line, nearly a yard in length. The 

 scars were of different ages. A common method of as- 

 certaining whether a jaguar is in the neighbourhood is to 

 examine these trees. I imagine this habit of the jaguar is 

 exactly similar to one which may any day be seen in the 

 common cat, as with outstretched legs and exserted claws it 

 scrapes the leg of a chair ; and I have heard of young fruit- 

 trees in an orchard in England having been thus much in- 

 jured. Some such habit must also be common to the puma, 

 for on the bare hard soil of Patagonia I have frequently 

 seen scores so deep that no other animal could have made 

 them. The object of this practice is, I believe, to tear off 

 the ragged points of their claws, and not, as the Gauchos 

 think, to sharpen them. The jaguar is killed, without much 



