CARNIVORA. 
45 
cular may be said never to accord precisely in any 
two individuals*. 
These animals, though occasionally found in some 
parts of Asia, are much more common in Africa; 
and are to the latter continent almost as destructive 
as the tiger is to the former. They seem, however, 
to have more respect, dictated by fear, for the human 
species, and will seldom attack a man unless pro- 
voked, or much pressed by hunger; but they are 
cruelly destructive to the inferior animal creation. 
For the purpose of taking them, it is usual for the 
hunter to construct a hiding-place within musket- 
shot of a tree, on which is suspended some flesh as 
a bait for the unconscious beast, which receives the 
ball while in the act of taking it. The hunter, for 
greater caution, then waits till the following day, 
when a dog, properly trained, is sent forward to track 
the animal to its retreat. If it be still alive, the dog 
generally falls a victim, and saves the hunter from 
exposing himself, until he is satisfied that the beast 
is no longer capable of mischief. 
The female of the panther or leopard is gravid 
nine weeks, and the young when born are blind, 
and remain so about nine days afterward ; but the 
American jaguar, which appears to have been con- 
founded so much with this animal, is produced with 
the eyes open, and the mother is pregnant nearly 
four months. 
* Whence considerable difficulty has arisen, and some uncer- 
tainty remains, in identifying the drawings, made use of for this 
work, with the figures and descriptions hitherto published, taken 
from other types. 
