64 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

precipice, but, being hotly pressed, and slightly wounded by
a musket-ball, he turned upon his pursuers, with that frantic
ferocity, which, on such emergencies, he frequently displays,
and, springing upon the man who had fired at him, tore him
from his horse to the ground, biting him at the same time
very severely on the shoulder, and tearing his face and arms
with his claws. The other hunter, seeing the danger of his
comrade, sprang from his horse, and attempted to shoot the
leopard through the head; but, whether owing to trepidation,
or the fear of wounding his friend, or the sudden motions
of the animal, he unfortunately missed his aim. The leopard,
abandoning his prostrate enemy darted with redoubled fury
upon this second antagonist; and so fierce and sudden was
his onset, that before the Boer could stab him with his hunt-
ing-knife, he had struck him in the face with his claws, and
torn the scalp over his forehead. In this frightful condition,
the hunter grappled with the raging beast, and, struggling for
life, they rolled together down a steep declivity. All this
passed so rapidly that the other man had scarcely time to
recover from the confusion into which his feline foe had
thrown him, to seize his gun and rush forward to aid his
comrade, when he beheld them rolling together down the
steep bank, in mortal conflict. In a few moments he was at
the bottom with them, but too late to save the life of his
friend, who had so gallantly defended him. The leopard
had torn open the jugular vein, and so dreadfully mangled
the throat of the unfortunate man, that his death was inevit-
able; and his comrade had only the melancholy satisfaction
of completing the destruction of the savage beast, which
was already much exhausted by several deep wounds it
had received in the breast, from the desperate knife of the
expiring huntsman.”

The Jaguar. The Jaguar, otherwise known as the American
Leopard, belongs to the forests of South America, and has many
points of difference from as well as some of similarity with