tree
over our heads. A slight movement in the bushes also seemed to say it
was time to depart; and then, expatiating on our own fool-hardiness, we
went on, and reached home in safety. The next morning we were informed,
that an enormous leopard had been caught in a trap close to the spring,
half an hour after we had been there, and his footsteps had been traced
upon mine in the sand. We never could understand, humanly speaking, what
saved us, unless it were the long white plumes which waved from the hat
of the commandant. These traps are generally pitfalls, baited, too
often, with a live kid, whose cries entice the beast of prey.

The Jaguar is the leopard of America, and is also very destructive at
times; hunger, however, is the prompter; and Baron Humboldt relates a
story of a native woman, whose children used to play daily with one
which came from the forest close by. She discovered it in consequence of
the cry of one of the children, who received a scratch in play from
their companion, who was a little too rough. Had he required a supper,
the wound would probably have been more than a scratch. D'Azara,
however, says, he is a very ferocious animal; causing great destruction
among horses and asses. He is extremely fond of eggs, and goes to the
shores frequented by turtles, and digs them out of the sand.

Two of the early settlers in the western states of America, a man and
his wife closed their wooden hut, and went to pay a visit at a distance,
leaving a freshly killed piece of venison hanging inside.

The gable end of this house was not boarded up as high as the roof, but
a large aperture was left for light and air. By taking an enormous
leap, a hungry jaguar, attracted by the smell of the venison, had
entered the hut, and devoured part of it; he was disturbed by the return
of the owners, and took his departure. The venison was removed: the
husband went away the night after to a distance, and left his wife alone
in the hut. She had not been long in bed before she heard the jaguar
leap in at the open gable; there was no door between her room and that
in which he had entered, and she knew not how to protect herself. She,
however, screamed as loudly as she could, and made all the violent
noises she could think of, which served to frighten him away at that
time; but she knew he would come again, and she must be prepared for
him. She tried to make a large fire; but the wood was expended. She
thought of rolling herself u