20 
NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BLOOD-HOUND. 
twenty years. I had the present anecdote from the young South-American I 
have already mentioned, who told it to me as a proof that the courage of the 
Spanish blood-hound is equal, nay, superior, to his strength and ferocity, and that 
he is not, as some have asserted, 44 violent and relentless towards such enemies as 
are weaker than himself, but a very coward at heart.” 
Many years ago, when my informant was a boy, there still remained a few 
44 Tigers ” ( Cougar') in Demerara, which, as my readers all know, is situated in 
Guiana, in South-America; but, being nearly extirpated, they were seldom 
met with, and of consequence little dreaded; and the few solitary individuals 
occasionally seen, appeared so disheartened by constant pursuit and persecution, 
as at all times to shun rather than seek or even await encounter. 
The Cougar—or, as the natives term it, 44 Tiger”—was, and is still, though 
much diminished in number, a favourite beast of chase among the South- 
Americans, and they employed in its pursuit a powerful and active race of Dogs, 
somewhat resembling, especially in colour, those spotted animals denominated 
blood-hounds in Dublin. These were, from the service in which they were 
employed, called Tiger-hounds; they possessed but little courage unless when 
associated in packs, and were rather prized for the activity with which they would 
elude the springs of an infuriated Cougar or Jaguar, and the readiness and 
perseverance with which they would hunt him until he was either 44 treed ” or 
brought to bay. On the Cougar s being wounded, the pack will often close with 
and destroy him. This attempt, however, is frequently productive of fatal con¬ 
sequences to several of the pack; for I have been assured by my friend, that he 
has seen upwards of thirty Dogs upon a single Panther, which, though severely 
wounded, had killed four or five of the Dogs, and tom others cruelly before the 
hunters came up and dispatched him. On some future occasion I shall probably, 
should I find my account of the blood-hound approved of, devote a paper to the 
natural history of the Tiger-hound, but shall for the present leave him and resume 
my narrative. 
The subject of my story and the uncle of my informant, was a very ardent 
sportsman, and kept as fine a pack of Tiger-hounds as any person in all Guiana. 
He owned a large estate that yielded him a superb income, which he, however, 
appeared to value principally for the facilities it afforded him of pursuing, ad 
libitum , his favourite pastime. 
One morning—and it was a morning by him never afterwards to be forgotten— 
the subject of this anecdote left home, and proceeded alone on a shooting excur¬ 
sion. I should scarcely, however, be justified in asserting that he w r ent forth 
absolutely alone, for two powerful Tiger-hounds followed closely at his heel. 
His favourite blood-hound howled long and plaintively for permission to join the 
party, but his master was inexorable; he was tied up and lelt behind. Indeed 
