Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1894-09-05
TIGREROS.
Hunters of Costa Rica aud their Queer
Dogs.

!
They've got the queerest dogs down in
Costa Rica you ever heard of, said Har-
ry Coyne, of Lycoming county, Pennsyl-
vaDia, who spent several years in the
tropical country with an engineer corps.
"When they are grown they're a bout the
size of shepherd dog, and look as if they
were cross between a wolf and fox
They are of light yellow color, and
slouch along as if they suspected every
one they met of having tin can and in
tentions of fastening it to their tails
The queerest thing about the Costa Rica
dogs is that if they live to be thousand
years old they can't bark unless they are
taught while they are puppies.
"They have to teach those dogs to bark
down there Just as some canary birds
have to be taught to sing. When the
pups are a couple of weeks old the In
dians-every person down there is an In
dian, so called-take them and either put
them with a dog that has learned to bark,
so that they can hear him and initiate
him by degrees, or bark the lesson to the
puppies themselves. The latter is the
surest and most satisfactory way to teach
a Costa Rica dog to bark, because dog
down there that has mastered the voice
that is natural to dogs elsewhere may not
take it into his head to bark once in six
months, and If IA puppy escesnt receive
any lessons in voice culture before he is
six months old he will be mute all his
life So the Indians usually make sure
that their dogs shall bark, by giving the
puppies lessons themselves.
"The funny thing about teaching these
young dogs that they have voice is that
their instructors can teach them TO bark
in any tone. The eager puppy will imi-
tate the sound his Indian teacher emits,
no matter whether it is a deep bass, a
mellow baritone, plaintiff falsetto or a
fendsh shrek or yell in no tone at ALL
$50 you can well imagine that fami-
ly of Costa Rica dogs trained to sing after
the varied methods that the whims or in.
clinations of their teachers dictate, may
be able to give concert on moonlight
night that would startle stranger when
he first heard it.
"But these dogs are very necessary
things to the Indians, the most of whom
add materially to their meagre incomes
by hunting the jaguar and the puma
They don't have any bear down there
and | felt real lonesome until l had my
first jaugar hunt, and after l had tried
my hand at puma l felt very much at
home The jaguar is sort of tiger,
and the puma is genuine panther.
"You may take all the bears there are
in my native Pennsylvania woods-and
there are good many of them left yet, |
can tell you-and boil their ugliness and
eussedness down into one strapping, rip
ping, roaring bear, and that bear would
be as humble and gentle as lamb COM
pared with an ordinary Costa Rica jaguar
or puma, with only its own share of GUS
sedness to help it along.
"The Costa Rican Indians never use
guns in hunting the dangerous and de-
structive jaguar and puma, and that is
because their ancestors didn't hunt the
game with guns. The jaguar or puma
hunter is called tigrero, and if the ja-
guar is the object of the chase the tigre-
ros 60 in pairs. One of them carries two
short spears-one six feet long and the
other four feet long. His companion in
the hunt carries big knife, or rather a
weapon like butchers cleaver. The IT,
grero who carries the spears walks in
front, following the dogs. The Indian
with the cleaver brings up the rear. All
he has to do is TO be on hand in case of
emergency.
GAS soon as the jaguar finds that the
dogs are on his track he makes it his
invariable business to turn and come
back on his track, not because
he wants to meet the dogs, for he pays no
more attention to them than if they were
so many flies. 1t is the Indian meat he
wants, and he seems to know that the
dogs wouldn't be there If there wasn't an
Indian or two with them. So the jaguar