PLAYFULNESS OP A JA3UAK. 
2(3S 
arrival, a jaguar, which was thought to he young, though 
of a large size, had wounded a child in playing with hi® 1 
The facts of this case, which were verified to us on the spot, 
are not without interest in the history of the manners oi 
animals. Two Indian children, a boy and a girl, about 
eight and nine years of age, were seated on the grass neat 
the village of Atures, in the middle of a savannah, which 
we several times traversed. At two o’clock in the after - 
noon, a jaguar issued from the forest, and approached the 
children, bounding around them ; sometimes he hid himseu 
in the high grass, sometimes he sprang forward, his back 
bent, his head hung down, in the manner of our cats. The 
little hoy, ignorant of his danger, seemed to be sensible ® 
it only when the jaguar with one of his paws gave hi® 
some blows on the head. These blows, at first slight, 
became ruder and ruder ; the claws of the jaguar wounded 
the child, and the blood flowed freely. The little girl the» 
took a branch of a tree, struck the animal, and it fled fro® 
her. The Indians ran up at the cries of the children, ai® 
saw the jaguar, which then bounded off without making 
the least show of resistance. 
The little boy was brought to us, who appeared lively 
and intelligent. The claw of the jaguar had torn away th® 
skin from the lower part of the forehead, and there was a 
second scar at the top of the head. This was a singular 
fit of playfulness in an animal which, though not difficult to 
be tamed in our menageries, nevertheless shows itself alway 8 
wild and ferocious in its natural state. If we admit that, 
being sure of its prey, it played with the little Indian 90 
our cats play with birds whose wings have been clipp ed ’ 
how shall we explain the patience of a jaguar of large siz®> 
which finds itself attacked by a girl ? If the jaguar "Vf® 
not pressed by hunger, why did it approach the childi' elJ 
at all ? There is something mysterious in the affecti®* 9 
and hatreds of animals. We have known lions kill tin'® 0 
or four dogs that were put into their den, and instancy 
caress a fifth, which, less timid, took the king of anim®, 
by the mane. These are instincts of which we know 
the secret. . f 
We have mentioned that domestic pigs are attacked 0 
the jaguar-s. There are in these countries, besides tu 
