THE jaguar resembles the ounce ins ize of body, in the figure of most of the spots, and even in dispositions. He is not so bold as the leopard or panther. Like the leopard, the [187] ground-colour of his hair is a beautiful yellow, and not gray like the ounce. His tail is shorter than that of either of these animals: His hair is longer than that of the panther, and shorter than that of the ounce. It is crisped when young, and smooth when he arrives at full growth. We have never seen this animal alive; but had one sent us well preserved in spirits; and it is from this subject that our figure and description have been taken. It had been taken young, and brought up in the house till it was two years old, when it was killed, in order to be transmitted to us.* It had not, therefore, acquired its natural dimensions. But, it was evident, from the bare inspection of this animal, that, when full grown, he could not exceed the size of an ordinary dog. This animal, however, is the most formidable, the most cruel, in a word, he is the tiger of the [188] New World, where Nature seems to have contracted every kind of quadruped. The jaguar lives on prey like the tiger. But a light is sufficient to make him fly; and, when his stomach is full, he so entirely loses all courage and vivacity, that he runs before a single dog. He is neither nimble nor active, but when pressed with hunger.* The savages, who are naturally poltroons, are afraid to encounter him. They alledge, that he prefers them to the Europeans, whom he never attacks.+ The leopard is likewise said to prefer the Blacks to the Whites,3 whom he is supposed to distinguish by [189] the smell, and attacks them during the night as well as the day.
Almost all the authors who have written the history of the New World mention this animal; some under the name of the tiger or leopard, others under the names given him in Brasil, Mexico, &c. Piso and Marcgrave, who first described him fully, called him jaguara, instead of janoura, his Brasilian name.* They have also mentioned another animal of the same genus, and perhaps of the same species, under the name of jaguarette. Like these two authors, we have distinguished the jaguar from the jaguarette; because they appear to be animals of a different species. However, as we have only seen one of these animals, we cannot determine whether they are two distinct species, or a variety of the same species. Piso and Marcgrave remark, that the jaguarette is distinguished from the jaguar by having shorter, more bright, and differently coloured hair, which is black, variegated with spots of a still deeper black. But, in every other particular, he resembles the jaguar [190] so strongly in the figure of his body, manners, and temper, that he may still be only a variety of the same species; especially as Piso informs us, that, in the jaguar, the ground-colour of the hair, and that of the spots, vary in different individuals of this species. He says, that some are marked with black, and others with red or yellow spots: And, with regard to the difference of gray, yellow, or black colours, the same thing takes place in other species of animals. There are black wolves, black foxes, black squirrels, &c. If such variations are rarer among wild than domestic animals, the phaenomenon must be ascribed to the former being liable to fewer accidents which can produce such changes. As the life of the former is more uniform, their food less various, and their liberty greater than those of the latter, their nature must likewise be more constant, or less subject to accidental alterations in colour.
The jaguar is found in Brasil, in Paraguay,* Tucuman,+ Guiana,3 in the country of the Amazons,4 in Mexico,5 and in all the regions of South America. It is, however, rarer in [191] Cayenne than the couguar [sic] which has been called the red tiger; and the jaguar is not now so common in Brasil, which is its native country, as formerly. A price has been set on his head; numbers of this species have accordingly been destroyed; and the rest have retired from the coasts into the most desert parts of the country.* The jaguarette has always been less common, or, at least, has kept at a greater distance from the habitations of men;+ and the few travellers who mention this animal seem only to copy Marcgrave and Piso.
We here give a figure of an animal, which belongs to the species of the leopard, or jaguar. The drawing was communicated by the deceased Mr Colinson, without either name or history. As we are ignorant whether it is a native of the Old or New Continent, and as it differs from the ounce and leopard by the form of its spots, and still more from the jaguar and ocelot, we could not determine to which of these animals it may be referred. It appears, however, to have a greater relation to the jaguar than to the leopard. [192]
The JAGUAR of New Spain.
In the month of June 1775, a female jaguar was sent to M. Le Brun from New Spain. It was very young; for all its teeth had not yet appeared, and it has since grown larger at Chaillot, where M. de Seve made a drawing of it in the beginning of October. We reckon it to be about nine or ten months old. His length, from the muzzle to the anus, was one foot eleven inches, and the height of its hind train from thirteen to fourteen inches. The jaguar described in the original work, was two feet five inches four lines long, and the height of the hind train one foot four inches nine lines: But it was two years of age. Though belonging to different countries, there is a great similarity between these two animals. The differences in the form of the spots seem to be only individual varieties. The iris is of a brown colour inclining to green; the edges of the eyes are black, with a white band both above and below. The colour of the head is yellow blended with gray, which is also the ground-colour of the spots; and the latter are bordered with black bands. These spots and bands are grounded on a dirty reddish white colour, inclining more or less to gray. The ears are black, with a very large white spot on their external part. The tail is long, and well covered with hair. [193]
M. Sonini de Manoncour has made some excellent remarks on the jaguars of Guiana, which I shall here transcribe.
“The hair of the young jaguar,” says he, “is not crisped, as M. de Buffon alledges. I have seen young jaguars with hair as smooth as that of adults. This observation has been confirmed by the most experienced hunters. With regard to their size, instead of only equaling, as M. de Buffon remarks, that of an ordinary dog, I have had two skins, which I was assured belonged to subjects of two or three years old, and one of them measured near five feet from the muzzle to the tail, which was two feet long. I have myself seen, in the forests of Guiana, tracks of these animals, which induced me, as well as M. de la Condamine, to think, that the American animals called tigers were as large as those of Africa. I even think, that, excepting the true, or royal tiger, the American tiger is the largest animal to which this appellation is given; since, according to M. de Buffon, the panther, which is the largest of these animals, exceeds not, when full grown, five or six feet in length; and it is certain that there are quadrupeds of this kind which greatly surpass these dimensions. The colour of the jaguar varies with age. When young, [194] he is of a very deep yellow, approaching to red, or even brown. This colour brightens in proportion as the animal increases in years.
“The jaguar is not that indolent animal he has been represented by some travellers, whom M. de Buffon has copied. Instead of being afraid of dogs, he springs upon them wherever he meets them. He makes great havock [sic] among the flocks. Those which inhabit the deserts of Guiana are even formidable to men. In a journey I made through these great forests, we were tormented two nights successively by a jaguar, notwithstanding a large fire, which was kept perpetually blazing. He roamed continually round us; and we found it impossible to shoot him; for we no sooner aimed at him than he disappeared in a moment, then returned on the other side, and in this manner kept us in perpetual alarm. Notwithstanding all our vigilance, we could never shoot him. He continued these manoeuvres during two complete nights. He returned on the third: But, seemingly disgusted by not obtaining his end, and perceiving that we had augmented our fire, which he was afraid to approach too near, he left us with dreadful howlings. His cry, hou, hou, is somewhat plaintive, grave, and strong, like that of the ox.
“With regard to the supposed predilection of the jaguar to the natives of the country, rather than to the Negroes or Whites, I suspect [195] strongly that it is fabulous. I found this notion established at Cayenne: But I travelled along with savages through places where the largest tigers are common, and never discovered that they entertained any remarkable degree of terror at these animals. Like us, they suspended their hammocks on trees, removed to a certain distance from us, and contented themselves with kindling a small fire, which frequently went out in the course of the night. These savages, however, were inhabitants of the interior parts of the country, and, consequently, knew the danger they had to apprehend. I can assure you, that they took no precautions, and appeared to be very little affected, though surrounded with these animals.”
Here I cannot help remarking, that this last fact proves that these animals are not very dangerous, at least to men.
“The flesh of the jaguar is not good to eat. He combats, with advantage, all the quadrupeds of the New Continent, who fly from him with terror. The ant-eater, though he has no teeth to defend himself, is the most cruel enemy the jaguars have to encounter. As soon as the jaguar attacks the ant-eater, it lies down on its back, and seizes and suffocates him with its long claws.” [196]
* The hair of the jaguar, or Brasilian cat, is of a bright tawny colour. The top of the back is marked with long stripes of black, and the sides with irregular oblong spots, open in the middle, which is the ground-colour of the hair. The thighs and legs are marked and the tail not so long as the body: The upper part is a deep tawny, marked irregularly with large black spots, the lower part with smaller spots. It grows to the size of a wolf, and even larger; Pennant’s Synops. of quad. p. 176.
The jaguar or jaguara, is the Brasilian name of this animal, which we have adopted to distinguish it from the tiger, the panther, the ounce, and the leopard, with which it has often been confounded. It was called janou-are, or janouar, by first historians of the New World. Psio and Marcgrave first wrote jaguara, instead of janouara. The Mexicans called it Tlatlauhqui occlotl, according to Hernandes, p. 498. The Portuguese called it onça, because it had some resemblance to that animal.
Jaguara; Pison. Hist. Nat. p. 103.
Jaguara Brasiliensibus; Marcgrav. HIst. Brasil. p. 235.
Pardus an Lyns Brasiliensis, jaguara dicta Marcgravii; Raii Synops. quad. p. 168.
Tigris Americana jaguara Brasiliensis; Klein. quad. p. 168.
Tigre de la Guiane; Voyage de Desmarchais, tom. 3. p. 299.
Tigris American, Felis flavescens, maculis nigris orbiculatis, quibusdam rosam referentibus, variegate; Brisson. Quad. p. 196 [187]
Felis onca, cauda mediocri, corpore flavescente, ocellis nigris rotundato-angulatis, medio flavis; Linn. Syst. p. 62 [this note straddles two pages, with the break occurring where indicated above. Back to page 187].
* This animal was sent to us by M. Pagés, King’s physician at St Domingo, under the name of Chat-tigre. M. Pagés remarks, in his letter, that this animal was brought from the Continent, where it is very common, to St Domingo, in a Spanish vessel. He adds, thjat it was two years of age when he ordered it to be killed; that it had swelled in the spritis; that it eat, drank, and uttered the same cry as the wild cat; and that it mewed, and preferred fish to flesh: Piso and Marcgrave likewise tell us, that the jaguars of Brasil are very fond of fish. The chat-tigre, says Dampier, tom. 3. p. 306. which is very common in the Bay of Campeachy, has short legs, and a contracted body, like that of the mastiff; but, in the form of his head, the colour of his hair, and the manner of watching his prey, he resembles the tiger [back to page 188].
* There are tigers at Brasil which, when agitated by famine, are very bold; but, after a full meal, they become so cowardly, that they instantly fly for fear of the dogs; Descript. des Indes Orientales, par Herrera, p. 252. The same remark is to be found in l’Hist. des Indes par Maffé, p. 69. There are tigers about Porto-bello, the environs of which are very woody and desert. These appear to be of a small species; for a single man, when the animal is about to attack him, often cuts off his paws one after another; Voyage de Dom Juan et Dom Antoine de Ulloa; Extrait de la Bibliotheque raisonné, tom. 44. p. 413 [back to page 189].
+ I have heard that these tigers had an antipathy against the Indians; that they seldom or never attack the Spaniards; and that they sometimes pick out and carry off an Indian when sleeping in the midst of Spaniards; Hist. Nat. des Indes, par Joseph Acosta, p. 190.
3. In the province of Bamba, in the kingdom of Congo, there are tigers which never attack white men, but often rush upon the Negroes: When a Negro and a white man are sleeping near each other, these animals run with fury upon the Negro, without injuring the white; Drake’s Voyage round the world, p. 105 [back to page 189].
* In Brasil there is a rapacious animal which the savages call janou-ara, and has limbs nearly as high as those of the greyhound; but he has great whiskers, a beautiful skin, variegated like that of the ounce, whom he very much resembles in every other respect; Voyage de Jean de Lery, p. 162.—The janouar is a kind of ounce, as large as an English bull-dog, with a fine spotted skin; Misson des Capucins, par le Père d’ Abbeville, p. 251.—The janolura of Brasil lives only on prey. He is of the stature of a greyhound, and his skin is spotted; Voyage de Coreal, tom. 1. p. 173 [back to page 190].
* Hist. de Parag. Par Charlevoix, tom. 1. p. 31. 171. tom 4. p. 95.
+ Id. Ibid.
3. Voyage de la France equinoxiale, par Binet, p. 343. et Desmarchais, tom. 3. p. 299.
4. We find the janouar in Margnon; Hist. de la Misson Capucins dans l’isle du Maragnon, par let P. d’Abbeville, p. 251.
5. In the Mexican mountains, there is an animal called ounce, of the size and figure of the lynx, but whose claws and head have a greater resemblance to those of the tiger; Roger’s voyage, tom. 2. p. 42 [back to page 191].
+ Voyage de Desmarchais, tom. 3. p. 300 [back to page 192].