The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-01-17
THE KINDLY PANTHER.
Becomes a Household Pet in Patagonia
and is Fond of People.

Becomes Household Pet in Patagonia
and is Fond of People.
On the desert of Patagonia there are
more panthers in proportion to the
area and the number of other kinds of
ANIMALS than in any other region in
the world. The lonely wayfarer is not
often found there afoot, but men have
been on the desert unmounted, and the
panthers have come to play around
them, too But it is not as predatory
cat that they come. 1t is as playful
kitten. Individual panthers play by
themselves-old ones as well as young
by the hour. They will chase and
paw and roll an upturned bush or a
round rock or any moving thing, and
lacking that will pretend to sneak up
on unwary game, crouching the while
behind bush or rock for concealment,
to spring out at last and land on a
hump of sand or a shadow. Then they
turn around and do the same thing
over again. When it is in this frame
of mind if a lone human being comes
along the panther is as glad to see him
as patted cat is to see its mistress. 1t
purrs and rolls over before him, and
! gallops from side to side, and makes no
end of kitten-lille motions, and all be-
cause of the exuberance of its youth
full spirits. / know that the average
reader, accustomed to the Fenimore
| Cooper sort of novels, will think this
an eXaggeration, but the plainsmen of
all Argentina call the panther by a
name that means 1.-THE friend of man."
and that too, in spite of the havoc it
makes among their sheep The com
bined panthers of the world do not kill
one-tenth as many people as barnyard
cattle do.
This name of the beast, elsewhere
counted ferocious, arose from an Incl
dent well authenticated in the history
of Buenos Ayres, though l have no
doubt that other instances of the kindly
disposition of the panther toward the
human race have served to perpetuate
the title. In 1886 the people of Buenos
AyreS, then town of two thousand in
habitantS, were reduced to the point OF
| starvation because of war with the
Indians. One writer Del Barco Cen
tenera, asserts that eighteen hundred
of the two thousand died of hunger.
The dead were buried only just beyond
the palisades. because of the danger
from Indians, and in consequence many
beasts of prey came to feed on the
thiuly covered bodies, a circumstance
that added greatly to the terror and
distress of the people. Nevertheless
hunger increased so much that many
ventured out into woods along the
river seeking edible roots, and with
some success. Among these was a
young woman named Maldonada, who,
getting lost, was found and carried
away by the Indians Some months
later, peace having been restored, Don
Rui Diaz, the captain of the soldiers,
learned that Senorita Maldonada was
alive, and thereupon he persuaded the
Indians to restore her He did this,
not to relieve her from her slavery, but
that he might punish her for what he
believed to be her treachery. lie
thought she had deserted to the IN
dians and so he condemned her to be
tied to tree three miles from town
and left there to be- eaten by wild
beasts. This was done, After two
nights and day soldiers were sent tc
bring in her bones for burial, but tc
their great establishment she was found
unhurt. She said a panther had re.
manned with her and had driven off the
jaguars ana other beasts of prey that
came to destroy her.-N. Y. Sun.