Daily Yellowstone journal., 1886-11-07
PecULlARITlEs OF THE PUMA.
An Animal which steadfastIy Refa..

an AnhfnnA Wh1Cn 6tehutAstiy
to Recognise an Enemy i'm Man.
was told by person who had spent
most of his life on the pampas that on
one occasion, when travelling in the
neighborhood Of Cape Corrientes, his
horse died under him, and he was COM
PEELED to continue his journey on foot,
burdened with his heavy native horse
gear. At night he made his bed under
the shelter of rock, ON the slope OF a
stony sierra; bright moon was shining,
and about . o'clock in the evening four
pumas appeared, two adults with their
two half-grown young. Not feeling the
least alarm at their presence he did not
stir; and after awhile they began to
gambol together close to him, conceal
ing themselves from each other among
the rocks, just as kittens do, and fire.
quently while pursuing one another
leaping over him. He continued watch
ing them until past midnight, then fell
asleep and did not wake until morning,
when they had left him.
This man was an Englishman by birth,
but having gone very young to South
America, he had taken very kindly to
the semi-barbarous life of the gauchos,
and had imbibed all their peculiar no.
tions, one of which is that human life is
not worth very much. What does it
natter" they often say, and shrug their
shoulders, when told of comrades
death. $50 many beautiful horses die!'
asked him il he had ever killed puma,
and he replied that he had killed only
one, and had sworn never to kill an
other. He said that while out one day
with another gaucho looking for cattle
puma was found. 1t sat up with its
back against a stone. and did not move
even when his companion threw the
moose of his lasso over its neck. My in
formant then dismounted, and drawing
his knife advanced to kill it; still the
puma made no attempt to free itself
from the lasso, but it seemed to know,
he said, what was coming, for it began
to tremble, the tears ran from its eyes,
and it whined in the most pitiful man.
ner. He killed it as it sat there unre-
sisting before him. but after accomplish
ing the deed felt that he had committed
murder. 1t was the only thing he
had ever done in his life, he added,
which filed him with remorse when he
remembered it. This thought rather
startling declaration. as knew that he
had killed several individuals of his own
species in duels, fought with knives, in
the fashion Of the gauchos.
All who have killed or witnessed the
killing Of the puma-and l have ques-
toned scores of hunters on this point
agree that it resigns itself in this unre-
sisting, pathetic manner to death at the
hands of man. Claudio Gay, in his -Nat-
ural History of Chilli" says, when at
tackled by man its energy and daring at
once forsook it, and it becomes weak,
inoffensive animal, and trembling and
uttering piteous moans, and shedding
abundant tears, it seems to implore CON-
passion from generous enemy" The
enemy is not often generous: but
many gauchos have assured me, when
speaking on this subject, that although
they kill the puma readily to protect
their domestic animals. they consider it
an evil thing to take its life in desert
places, where it is mans only friend
among the wild animals.
When the hunter is accompanied by
dogs, then the puma, instead of droop-
ing and shedding tears, is aroused to
sublime rage; its hair stands erect; its
eyes shine like balls of green flame;
II spits and snarls like furious tomcat.
The hunters presence seems at such
times to be ignored altogether, its whole
attention being given TO the dogs and its
rage directed against them. In Pata-
gonia a sheep-farming Scotchman, with
whom spent some days, showed me
the skulls Of five pumas which he had
shot in the vicinity Of his ranch. One
was of an exceptionally large individual,
and / here relate what he told me of his
encounter with this animal, as it shows
just how the puma almost invariably be-
haves when attacked by man and dogs.
He was out on foot with his flock, when
the dogs discovered the animal concealed
among the bushes. He had left his gun
at home. and having no weapon, and
finding that the dogs dared not attack it
where it sat in defiant attitude with
its back against a thorny bush, he looked
about and found large dry stick, and
going boldly up to it tried to stun it
with violent blow on the head. But
though it never looked at him, its fiery
eyes gazing steadily at the dogs all the
time, he could not hit it, for with quick
side movement ii avoided every blow.
The small heed the puma paid him, and
the apparent ease with which it avoided
his bestaimed blows, only served to
rouse his spirit, and at length striking
with increased force his stick came to
the ground and was broken to pieces.
For some moments he now stood within
two yards of the animal perfectly de-
fenceless and not knowing what to do.
Suddenly it sprang past him, actually
brushing against his arm with its side,
and began pursuing the dogs round and
round among the bushes. In the end
my informants partner appeared on the
scene with his rifle, and the puma was
shot
In encounters of this kind the most
curious thing is that the puma stead
fastly refuses to recognize an enemy in
man, although it finds him acting in
concert with its hated canine foe, about
whose hostile intentions It has no such