The sun., 1897-12-26
JAGUAKSANDT THEIR WAYS.
FREhKs OF THE BEASTS SNOWY ON
THE YENEzUEBAN PLAINS.


or n Piainsmnn watched by JaEuar.
''In tho feline tribe tho jaRuar ranks in sizo
next to the lion and Bengal tiger, and for feroo-
ity he Is not exceeded by any animal that
walks" said Edgar Maystrom, whose business
for years took him into the forests and upon tho
pampas Of Venezuela. Ills range Of habita-
tion is n wido one extending from the northern
border of Mexico southwark throughout all OF
Central and South America almost to tho
Straits of Magellan. He is a sanguinary crea'
ture, as beautiful as ho is vicious, with his
1.-the form combining strength with agility In
high degree, and tho handsome spottings OF his
black and yellow skin. II is probable that In
no other region of America are there to be
foundsjaguars which in size and ferocity ex-
coed those of Venezuela. During my stay there
1 fell in the way of et tiDrc-in Spanish-speak-
ing America the jaguar is always called tiger,
az the puma is always lion-several times,
and on two of these occasions found him any
thing but safe and pleasant company.
my first experience with et ti1re was when
one sprang into group Of dozen men, OF whom
I was one, sleeping in the open air, and tried
to carry one of them Off. 1t was in the woods
bordering the Payara River, and the men were
LA eros-cattle herders-in the employ OF Ellis
Grcl, the cattle king of Venezuela. was
asleep in a hammock strung between two trees,
lying wrapped in their ponchos upon the
ground. Why the jaguar did not select me,
who was separated little from the others and
was the one the most plainly in view, is moro
than l can say, but have no complaint to
make.
1.-THE first knew of his presence was when I
was awakened by the noise of frightful growl,
u scufe and the yells of the man whom the
jaguar had seized. AS started up in the ham,
mock, at the same time grabbing hold of my
gun. which rested by my head, saw, dmly in
the darkness, the jaguar dragging tho man
from among his comrades, and the lidneros,
wakened by the upronr, springing to their feet.
Realizing instantly what was the matter, they
attacked the jaguar with knives. machetes,
cubs-anything they could get hold Of most
quickly--and so boldly that the beast quit his
prey, made one savage dash among his assail-
ants, leaving sad marks of teeth and claws in
two of them, and then sprang into the forest.
With all the men about the jaguar l could not
safely use my gun, and the creature got away.
81 dressed the wounds of tho man whom the
iaguar had seized-he had one raking blow Of
five claws across the side of his head and the
creatures teeth had met in the flesh of his right
shoulder-and then, having posted n sentinel
against the iaguars coming back, we turned
into our blankets and slept till morning. With
was wounded and lame. Following tho tracks
away, completely disabled for mischief by a
machete cut across one hind leg, and shot him
without difficulty.
II had one or two experiences in hunting
the jaguar before the time came for one of the
creatures to hunt me. In hunting et ti8re,
UdnerOs with their machetes and lassos and
pack of tiger dogs figured. making the sport
an exciting one, with no more danger than
served to give zest to the affar-though ! saw
a Hdnero get badly Clawed in the business,
and several dogs We're killed. l was travelling
alone ON horseback between San Filadelfo, in
the cUuntry. and Caracas when | had
. my most unpleasant adventure with Jaguar.
At the ranch of Don Ernestius, .Monacnballo.
about 200 miles from the capital made the
acquaintance of Capt. Nicanor Corez of the
Venezuelan Army, who.was riding in the same
company. 1t was stretch of rough semi
mountainous country that we had to take the
Our horses were pretty well beaten out and it
! was dangerous to try to put them over so
cnp Of otI trees, hobbied our horses and turned
| them loose down a little grassy valley. ate the
-emains of our monday lunch, and prepared
We had heard many stories Of the mountain
jaguars which abound in this region, and we
slung our hammocks between tree trunks as
, high as possible, as to ne above reach
should one of these animals try to spring up ut
we fastened our hammock ropes were too small
OF trunk tor q jaguar to run up-for, except in
tree trunk that Isle is less than Two feet in dame
/ ter. The jaguar does not climb step by step.
ciingng to the tree trunk. like the bear. but,
"By working together Capt Cortez and got
eight feet from the ground. The heads of the
hammocks were made fast TO the same tree
SO that we lay nearly at right angles to each
other. Singuarly enough, we both were with
out firearms, an unusual thing for travellers
cartridges for his pistols and having fooshly
sold mine before starting away, depending on
getting new pair at Caracas. The only weap-
on for defence we had, except our pocket
knives. was the Captains sword; in the use of
I'VE smoked "a cigarette or two and talked
/ off to sleep / was awakened after an hour or
two by noise like that of some heavy object
striking softly upon the gruond somewhere be,
low me- Something was gliding smoothly and
lithely upon the ground beneath the hammock
as looked down over the edge. and by the moon
rays that came through the tree branches saw
hammock and missed. His fiery eyes were
fixed on me, as. half crouching. with the end
about, selecting place from which to jump for
/ me second time. Presently the jagnar turned.
cropched lower, seemed to measure m the distance @
rose in the air it seemed that he surely would
come straight upon me, and I shrunk back in tho
inches; he fell short. The jaguar struck the
g,ound as elastic as ubbo ball. whiIed % don on
awled back to seek n new position from
which to try, it over again. After three or four
fse' es shy 'ns as
nearest large tree, he crept out upon a low
limb that extended toward me. as far as he
could safely go, and eyed me Ms II medtating
a jump from there II was long downward I'd
eight feet further below and with al his eager
ness to get to me- the jaghar apparently could
not quite make up his mind TO chance the leap
I lie ran back to the trunk and tried another
! limb-then another-but seemed at last to give
the idea up, and came down from the tree to
| the ground.
'.IIe tried once or twice more to reach me by
! jumping from the ground, and could plainly
see his vcxation and anger increase at every
successive failure. At last the jaguar for the
first time seemed to perceive Capt. Cortez and
the creature walked round inspecting carefully
the officer in his hammock. The Captain, ot
course was awake and SO long as the jaguar
confined his demonstrations to me he had lain
very composedly, smoking II cigarette, oCca'
sionally giving me a word of encouragement.
Now he reused himself up. and leaning on his
elbow with sword in readiness, he watched the
creatures moyements. His hammock perhaps
had sagged little since IL had been strung up.
At any rate tho ia uar's first leap brou ht him
80 close that claw caught in n mesh of the
netting, iarring the hammock that it ierked
and swnyed and was made to sag II little lower.