The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-08
FIERCE PANTHER-TIGEBS.
NAVIGATING BEASTS IN SOME OF
VENEZUELASS MOUNTAINS.

"Panther-jaguars they should be called,
but In every Spanish-American country a
jaguar is always un tlgre, a tiger-so
la" said Estrau Vieholm, for many years
a buyer of hides and rubber in South
America. They may be found in other
localities, but have never seen them or
heard them In any other region than the
eastern bases of the maritime end north
ern Andes. They range the high, partly
wooded plateaus and lower mountain lev
els above the river valleys and pampas,
where the ordinary jaguar is found. and
below the peaks and upper mountain val
leys. where the mountain lion has his
home. These beasts differ from the low
land jaguar in having a muzzle longer
and more tapering and a slenderer body
with greater length of limb, much resem-
bling the panther in form. In their spot
ed markings they are true jaguars. but
with paier colors than the jaguars OF the
Orinoco and its lower tributary valleys.
They are ferocious man-eaters, more ready
than any other South American animal 10
attack human beings without provocation.
The traveller passing between the noun
tains and the pampa taxes extra precau-
tons for his safety at night when he en-
tiers the zone where the panther-tiger
ranges
This creature figures uncannlly In many
weird tales told by Venezuelan llaneros
and montaneros-people of the plains and
mountains. One story often told Is of the
traveller who rode from the pampas in
among the foothills on the route from the
IL
never seen by man again, but a party rid
ing over the trail some days later saw
the evidences of the fate that had be-
fallen him. When night came, being APP
parently aware of danger from wild beasts
he had slung his hammock between two
trees as high from the ground rs he
could raise L. The hammock was there
empty, and clawprints in the ground be-
low showed that panther-tiger had leap
ed repeatedly upward for his victim until
at last he had torn him from the ham
mock. He had dragged the man away,
and the only traces of the tragedy to be
found were blood marks on the ground and
the prints of the tigers claws.
THE women of the little settlement
that lie isolated in the wooded region al
the eastern base of the Andes greatly
dread the panther-tiger from his habit of
carrying off children Cunning silent
and swift, instances have been known Of
his taking a child from the cradle in
broad daylight and bearing it away uu-
known 10 the mother who was attending
to her household work only a few PAGES
away. He hesitates as little In attacking
full-grown persons. though for this he
commonly chooses the darkness. But day
or night, his disposition to seize his hui
man prey Is governed largely by his hun
ger. An Indian that | met at a little viii
lage called Conception had a frightful zig
II
of a paw-stroke of a panther-tiger. He
showed me the marks of two deep bites
in his left shoulder, and his legs in front,
from groin to knees, were furrowed with
long up and down scars, where skin and
flesh had once been literally torn into
ribbons, all tokens of the same encounter
''EIis story. verified by men who had
found him in the forest, was that ne was
gathering medicinal plants In the wood
land, when a panther-tiger sprang upon
him from a tree limb. Catching sight Of
the tigers moving shadow, the man, who
was possessed of unusual strength and agil-
ty, jumped to one side, so that the beast
missed his spring. Striking the ground
beyond the man, the tiger instantly turn
ed and sprang again at his throat. The
Indians machete was In his hand and he
dealt the tiger blow on the head that
seemed to confuse the animal, for he
seized him with his teeth by the shoulder
instead of the throat. One stroke of the
forepaw tore the skin of the mans fore
head down over his eyes. but as he stag
gered backward the trunk of a tree kept
him from falling.
"Clnging with teeth and fore claws to
the mans shoulders, the tiger tore at him
with his hind claws in the effort to dis
embowel him. BY a lucky blow, for he
was blinded by blood from the wound
in his forehead, the man cut one of the
l. fr,l f.,Tvv
er dropped to the ground, but reared at
once and seized the man again by the
shoulder STOPPING, the Indian plunged
his machete in the tigers belly and with
a quick upward stroke completely diseul-
boweed the creature. Then the man
tainted and was found hours later, by
some passing Woodsmen lying uncon-
scious where he had fallen. with the tiger
dead beside him. He was carried home
where he hung for weeks between life and
death, and he never fully recovered from
the effects of his wounds received from
the tiger.
Like other species of the larger feFines.
the panther-tiger has the unpleasant habit
of stalking men-of following a man in
the forest. throughout the whole day it
may be, waiting for darkness to fan, when
1t win attack him. This the beast has been
known to do when there were several men
together and in such a case nothing can
draw the attention OF the tiger from the
particular man whom he has selected for
his prey. From a camp OF timber cutters
at work in the forests eouth of Merida a
mestiz5-a man of Spanish and Indian des-
cent-more intelligent than his comrades,
was sent one day TO prospect along the
mountain base for timber trees. In the af-
ternoon, as he rounded back toward the
camp, the feeling came upon him that he
was being followed. He looked back sever
al times but saw nothing to account for
this feeling IL remained with him, how
ever, and at last he stepped behind tree
and, looking back through the parasite
vines that had wound themselves about
the trunk saw the head of panther-ti-
ger rise above a clump of bushes peer
ing atead as If trying to find out what
had become Of him
Believing that the tiger would not at