The Portland daily press., 1898-01-08
THE GRIEF OF A JAGUAR.
An Exhibition That Alarmed the
slayers Of His Mate.

Slayers Of His Mate.
Roars of Rage and Mourning Unlike Any
thing Else in he Forests of Ecuador
Was Vented upon Ho.ses-An En-
Eineer's Adventure.
New York Sun.
sit was in the wooded region Of Ecua-
dor, in the San Jacinto district on the
easterly slope of the Maritime Andes, that
killed jaguar one day just as our party
was going into camp for the night said
A. l.. Vernon, civil engineer, who for
several years was engaged in exploring
railway routes and building track in
various parts OF South and Central Amer
lea. The jaguar was q female. a big,
hungry brute that had followed us for
hours, and she hung SO close about the
camp after we halted as to throw the
horses and some of the men almost into
n panic. | shot her in broad daylight,
not nfty yards from our campfire, as she
was stealing upon a mule standing with
his pack under an algarroba tree. took
OIL her skin-it was superb one, sleek
as satin, and splendid in its black and
yellow marking,--and hung it against Sne
trunk of the tree high enough to keep
1t from Tho mountain rats and oUner
gnawing vermin. 1t was in the pairing
season OF jaguars, and some OF the Old
forest men with me said that there would
be another tiger to deal with before morn
ing, that the male jaguar would come
round in search of his mate. There was
noticeable willingness throughout the
camp to lend a hand in gathering fire
wood, and for their common safety put
two men instead of one to the duty OF
guarding the horses and mules when tho
stock WAS turned out to Craze through
the night.
sWe were camping in ground partly
open, with shickly wooded slopes on tho
right and the left, rising to the foothills
of the Andes. Shortly after nightfau we
heard the wailing cry of jaguar off in
the forest on the right, and the sound
shifted to different points, coming nearer
before we rolled ourselves up in our
blankets for the night. 1t was the dry
season and we slept in the open air,
twelve OF us, in double row, and there
were four fires left burning brightly, one
on each side of the camp, as we dropped
asleep. | should not have troubled toI have
the fires built on my own account, hav-
ing great faith in my repeating rife and
reyolvers to meet the care of jaguars or
whatever other beasts might come, but
my men, who knew the forest, thought
differently, and gave them their way.
ssSome time in the night I WAS
wakened by CRY, q frightful. scream that
brought me to my feet, with my rifle
clutched in my hand, before / fairly
new that I was awake. All about me
the men were starting up and gazing fear
fully around.
H.What is it, Pedro?' I asked my
10 md 5,fo ~ Giant
always by my side. He had drawn his
machete from beneath his poncho, and
now, resting on one knee, was looking In
the direction of the algsrroba tree.
:" Ell 5igre, Senor,' he answered. He
is mourning has esposa (wife).
"He pointed with his machete toward
the tree as he spoke The fun moon had
it's light could see the jaguar standing
beneath the tree looking up at the skin Of
his mate stretched against the trunk.
Twice he moaned. The sound was some
thing between whine and a low roaring
but its cadence Enthusiastically was of dis
tress. Then throwing his head higher he
uttered again cry such as that which
had wakened the camp. Such a sound /
have never heard before or since. sLoud,
deep, vibrant, it filed the air with it's ex-
preston of wonder, dismay and grief-a
jaguar' grief, with note OF gathering
anger in It's tone. As it ended kthe creat-
ure turned toward our camp, as l could
tell by the flaming forth Of his eyes like
fireballs. Then lowering his head and
half crouching the jaguar uttered roar
after roar.
"We were all on our feet now, and
every man who had a weapon OF any
kind had seized it. Some of the men
were at the firessathat had been built
round us, stirring them into blaze and
piling fuel upon them, taking care as
they worked not to get beyond the pro-
lection of the flame. Every instant we
expected the jaguar to como bounding
upon u.s. The sight of our numbers and
the blazing up of the fires held him back
from attacking us, but for several min
utes the animal faced us, roaring angriiy.
Sometimes he would crawl a few inches
| toward us, or rising would tear at the
turf and tree roots as ii testing the
strength of his claws 1t was splendid
challenge that none of US was inclined to
accept.
cat fifty yards away, in the bright
moonlight, the jaguar made fine mark
for my rife, but somehow did not feel
like shooting him. His grief and resent
ment, both so intense and fitting, ap-
pealed to my sympathy, and 1 should
molested. / stood with my finger at the
rifle trigger withoutEaiming untilEP edro g
whisper came:
q Fire, Senior, while you have the
chance. In the name of Joseph and Mary
do not wound. without killing him. II
YOU do. he win have revenge.
ssThen fired threesshots in succession.
aiming between the fiery eyes. The
moonlight may have been deceptive, ~~per-
haps tiger fever, more nerve, shaking than
buck fever, got into my aim. l knew
that none of my bullets struck the jaguar.
But what was better than merely to
wound him, their whistling and tho flash
and reports OF the firing caused the
iaguar to retreat. At.the third tshot the
roaring ceased, and he crept into the
shadow of the tree. Somewhere Sbeyond
| the trunk I caught another glimpse of his
ewes and fired two more shots. That was
| the last we saw of him, as he stole away
| In the darkness.
| Give minutes later there came an out
cry from the direction in which Jour stock
had been driven-sounds OF q stampede OF
hoofs, the cries of the herders, and gun
shot. took half the men. and, carrying
torches, we started { for the fsounds. We
met the herders coming toward the camp
very much frightened. lei Tigre! Ell
Tigre!' WINS all that could get them to
say until one of them managed to tell me
tbat the iapuar phad leaned among the