The jaguar (_fig. 105._) resembles the ounce in size, and nearly so in
the form of the spots upon his skin, and in disposition. He is less
ferocious than the panther or the leopard. The ground of his colour,
like that of the leopard, is a bright yellow, and not grey like that
of the ounce. His tail is shorter than that of either; his hair is
longer than the panther's, but shorter than that of the ounce; it is
frizzled when he is young, but smooth when at full growth. I never saw
this animal alive, but had one sent me entire and well preserved in
spirits, and it is from this subject the figure and description have
been drawn; it was taken when very young, and brought up in the house
till it was two years old, and then killed for the purpose of being
sent to me; it had not therefore acquired its full growth, but it was
evident, from a slight inspection, that its full size would hardly
have equalled that of an ordinary dog. It is, nevertheless, an animal
the most formidable, the most cruel, it is, in a word, the tiger of
the new world, where Nature seems to have diminished all the genera of
quadrupeds. The Jaguar, like the tiger, lives on prey; but a lighted
brand will put him to flight, and if his appetite is satisfied, he so
entirely loses all courage and vivacity, that he will fly from a single
dog. He discovers no signs of activity or alertness but when pressed
with hunger. The savages, by nature cowardly, dread his approach. They
pretend he has a particular propensity to destroy them, and that if
he meets with Indians and Europeans asleep together, he will pass
the latter and kill the former. The same thing has been said of the
leopard, that he prefers black men to white, that he scents them out,
and can distinguish them as well by night as by day.
Almost all the authors who have written the History of the New World,
mention this animal, some by the name of tiger or leopard, and others
under the names given them at Brasil, Mexico, &c. The first who gave
a particular description of him were Piso and Marcgrave, who called
him jaguara, instead of janouara, his Brasilian name. They also speak
of another animal of the same genus, and perhaps of the same species,
under the name of jaguarette; but, like those two authors, we have
distinguished them from each other, because there is a probability
of their being different species; but whether they are really so, or
only varieties of the same species, we cannot determine, having never
seen but one of the kinds. Piso and Marcgrave say, that the jaguarette
differs from the jaguar, by its hair being shorter, more glossy, and
of a different colour, being black, interspersed with spots of a still
deeper black. But from the similitude in the form of his body, in his
manners, and disposition, he may, nevertheless, be only a variety of
the same species, especially as, according to the testimony of Piso,
the ground colour of the jaguar, as well as that of the spots, vary in
different individuals; he says that some are marked with black, and
others with red or yellowish spots; and with regard to the difference
of colour, that is, of grey, yellow, or black, the same is to be met
with in other species of animals, as there are black wolves, black
foxes, black squirrels, &c. If such variations are not so common among
wild as tame animals, it is because the former are less liable to those
accidents which tend to produce them. Their lives being more uniform,
their food less various, and their freedom less restrained, their
nature must be more permanent, that is, less subject to accidental
alterations and changes in colour.
The jaguar is found in Brasil, Paraguay, Tucuman, Guiana, in the
country of the Amazons, in Mexico, and in all parts of South America.
At Cayenne, however, this animal is more scarce than the cougar, which
they denominate red tiger, nor is the jaguar so common now in Brasil,
which appears his native country, as it was formerly. A price has been
set upon his head, so that many of them have been destroyed, and the
others have withdrawn themselves from the coasts to the inland parts of
the country. The jaguarette appears to have been always more scarce,
or at least to have inhabited those places which were distant from the
haunts of men, and the few travellers who mention him appear to have
drawn their accounts entirely from Marcgrave and Piso.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._
[Illustration: FIG. 105. _Jaguar of New Spain_]
[Illustration: FIG. 106. _Cougar_]