Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 2 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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There Now Remain As Monuments Of The Ancient
Cultivation Of These Countries, And The Active Industry Of The First
Missionaries, Only A Few Trunks Of The Orange And Tamarind, In The
Savannahs, Surrounded By Wild Trees.
The tigers, or jaguars, which are less dangerous for the cattle than
the bats, come into the village at Atures, and devour the swine of the
poor Indians.
The missionary related to us a striking instance of the
familiarity of these animals, usually so ferocious. Some months before
our arrival, a jaguar, which was thought to be young, though of a
large size, had wounded a child in playing with him. The facts of this
case, which were verified to us on the spot, are not without interest
in the history of the manners of animals. Two Indian children, a boy
and a girl, about eight and nine years of age, were seated on the
grass near the village of Atures, in the middle of a savannah, which
we several times traversed. At two o'clock in the afternoon, a jaguar
issued from the forest, and approached the children, bounding around
them; sometimes he hid himself in the high grass, sometimes he sprang
forward, his back bent, his head hung down, in the manner of our cats.
The little boy, ignorant of his danger, seemed to be sensible of it
only when the jaguar with one of his paws gave him some blows on the
head. These blows, at first slight, became ruder and ruder; the claws
of the jaguar wounded the child, and the blood flowed freely. The
little girl then took a branch of a tree, struck the animal, and it
fled from her. The Indians ran up at the cries of the children, and
saw the jaguar, which then bounded off without making the least show
of resistance.
The little boy was brought to us, who appeared lively and intelligent.
The claw of the jaguar had torn away the skin from the lower part of
the forehead, and there was a second scar at the top of the head. This
was a singular fit of playfulness in an animal which, though not
difficult to be tamed in our menageries, nevertheless shows itself
always wild and ferocious in its natural state. If we admit that,
being sure of its prey, it played with the little Indian as our cats
play with birds whose wings have been clipped, how shall we explain
the patience of a jaguar of large size, which finds itself attacked by
a girl? If the jaguar were not pressed by hunger, why did it approach
the children at all? There is something mysterious in the affections
and hatreds of animals. We have known lions kill three or four dogs
that were put into their den, and instantly caress a fifth, which,
less timid, took the king of animals by the mane. These are instincts
of which we know not the secret.
We have mentioned that domestic pigs are attacked by the jaguars.
There are in these countries, besides the common swine of European
race, several species of peccaries, or pigs with lumbar glands, two of
which only are known to the naturalists of Europe.
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