48 The Nahiralist in La Plata, 
appeared and sat near him, but did not seem to 
notice him. After a while it became restless, fre- 
quently ‘ going away and returning, and finally it 
kept away so long, that he thought it had left him 
for good. About midnight he heard the deep roar 
of a jaguar, and gave himself up for lost. By raising 
himself on his elbow he was able to see the outline 
of the beast crouching near him, but its face was 
turned from him, and it appeared to be intently 
watching some object on which it was about to 
spring. Presently it crept out of sight, then he 
heard snarlings and growlings and the sharp yell of 
a puma, and he knew that the two beasts were 
fighting. Before morning he saw the jaguar several 
times, but the puma renewed the contest with it 
again and again until morning appeared, after which 
he saw and heard no more of them. 
Extraordinary as this story sounds, it did not 
seem so to me when I beard it, for I had already 
met with many anecdotes of a similar nature in 
various parts of the country, some of them vastly 
more interesting than the one I have just narrated ; 
only I did not get them at first hand, and am con- 
sequently not able to vouch for their accuracy ; but 
in this case it seemed to me that there was really 
no room for doubt. All that I had previously heard 
had compelled me to believe that the puma really 
does possess a unique instinct of friendliness for 
man, the origin of which, like that of many other well- 
known instincts of animals, must remain a mystery. 
The fact that the puma never makes an unprovoked 
attack on a human being, or eats human flesh, and 
that it refuses, except in some very rare cases, even 
