456 
ZOOLOGY OF 
A young Portuguese- trader told me he had seen (what 
many persons had before assured me often happened) 
an onca feeding on a full-grown live alligator, tearing 
and eating its tail. On leaving off, and retiring a yard 
or two, the alligator would begin to move towards the 
water, when the on 9a would spring upon it, and again 
commence eating at the tail, during which time the alli- 
gator lay perfectly still. We had been observing a cat 
playing with a lizard, both behaving in exactly the same 
manner, the lizard only attempting to move when the 
cat for a moment left it; the cat would then immedi- 
ately spring upon it again : and my informant assured 
me that he had seen the jaguar treating the alligator in 
exactly the same way. 
The on 9a is particularly fond of dogs, and will carry 
them off in preference to any other animal. When one 
has been committing any depredations, it is a common 
thing to tie a dog to a tree at night, the howling of 
which attracts the on9a, who comes to seize it, and is 
then shot by a person concealed for the purpose. 
It is a general belief among the Indians and the white 
inhabitants of Brazil, that the on9a has the power of 
fascination. Many accounts are given to prove this; 
among others, a person informed me, that he had seen 
an on 9a standing at the foot of a high tree, looking up 
into it : on the top was a guariba, or howling-monkey, 
looking down at the on 9a, and jumping about from side 
to side, crying piteously ; the on 9a stood still ; the 
monkey continued descending lower and lower on the 
branches, still uttering its cries, till at length it fell 
down at the very feet of the on 9a, which seized and 
