The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1878-06-27
The American King of Beasts.

his Old World relation, the lion, whose
claim to superior strength. swiftness, and
sagacity, is not only dispsted by the ele-
plant. but by the gorilla, tho orang-
outang, and the rhinoceros, and above
all by the Bengal tiger, who is his match
in strength, and more than his match in
swittness and cunning. The grizzly bear
of the Rocky Mountains surpasses him
in weight, and, perhaps, in the bone
crunching power Of his jaws. but these
advantages are more than offset by the
greater agility and general vigor of the
tropical giant-cat.
Governor Pacheco, of California, las
seed an old grizzly in the Contra Costa
Mountains, few years ago, and dragged
him home to his mothers ranch; and the
same feat has been repeatedly performed
by other sportsmen of his native State
but, to use the words of an old Mexican
hunter of my acquaintance, you might
as we'll try to lAriat Old Scratch himself
as an old jaguar.
In the summer of 1866 a French gun
boat, La Belle Rhone landed ammunition
and supplies for the Macmillan govern
ment, in the harbor of Sasal, and before
leaving the harbor took fine jaguar on
board, that had been purchased by an
agent of the new geological garden of
Marseilles. The brute had been cap
,ured in a pitfall in the neighborhood of
Merida, and, being flll-grown and
beautiful specimen, was preferred to diff
! ferent tame ones which the citizens OF
the town offered for sale, though his
ferocity made it necessary to confne him
in a cage of chdrcd sticks, a species OF
wood that does not easily break, but
splinters like bamboo, and resists the
attempt Of any animal to gnaw it by
decorating its gums.
When the cage was brought on board
the captive seemed to know that his re-
maining chances Of escape were num-
bered by minutes, and braced himself Tor
a last effort. In the moment when his
movable prison was being lowered
through the hatchway, he forced his paw
through the slaves, reached out and tore
the shoulder of the nearest sailor, with a
succession Of ripping blows. The man
jumped aside, yelling murder, his mates
slipped their grip, and the cage, jaguar
and all, tumbled down fifteen feet,
straight into the hold, and upon pile Of
g-iron ballast, which fractured its bot
tom board.
The men stood aehast, and the shrieks,
and the rush of stampeding aborers be-
low, confirmed their worst fears; the
iaguar was running at large in the hold
Of the ship.
Ignorant of the ladder and stairway
conveniences, the brute attempted to
regain the Superds durds of the deck by
the same road he had come down, and,
after jumping from rafter to rafter,
reached the luminous gate of the upper
world by desperate leap and in the
nick Of time, for the sailors on deck had
recovered their wits, and were dragging a
trapdoor towards the dangerous hole.
They we're letting it down when its edge
on one side came in contact with some
obstacle; a paw was pushed through
from below, frightful head quickly
after, and, needless of the beloved pro-
tests of the first mate, two of the men
broke and ran. They returned, one With
a handspike, and the other with heavy
bucket, but the delay had been fatal; the
brute had got its second paw through,
and, in spite of shower of blows, en-
larged the opening sufficiently to free the
rest of its body.
A saure qui pem followed, and the tiger
Jumped on deck and stood there for a
second, glazing around with bloodshot
eyes. But only for second; fully con-
scious, it seemed, that there was not an
other moment to lose, he used the trap.
door as a jumping board, and cleared
the gunwales with flying leap.
The boat had got under way some
time ago, but had followed an along
shore course, so that the distance to terra
| frma was not very considerable mile,
or a mile and half at the farthest. But
Don Tigron was by no means out of
trouble yet; rifle balls, carbine balls, and
pistol balls made the water fly around
his head, and the marines were just COM
ing up with their muskets, when the
French lieutenant interfered:
"Cesscz. ca, me Cossaques A chap
that could beat US fair and square on our
own deck ought not to be shot in the
water, like cowardly deserter; give him
a chance"
The chance was poor enough anyhow,
fer the Bay of Sisal swarms with sharks
and spear. fish, but fortune favors the
brave, and, to his intense disgust, the
man with the torn shoulder saw the brute
land on the opposite shore, shake him
self, and disappear in the willow thicket.
Before night be was probably back in his
old haunis in the Lagotasso, Il wiser if
not better jaguar.-Appletons' Journal.
THE Lewiston, Maine, Journal tells the
| following story: "a gentleman from