Part 16

Tigers, whether springing out like cats or in the act of flight, run extremely quick, but not for a long time together; for as they soon tire, an active horseman may overtake and kill them. In the woods they defend themselves amongst the trees and rocky places, and pertinaciously repulse assailants. It is incredible what slaughters they daily commit in the estates. Oxen, sheep, horses, mules, asses, they kill without difficulty, but never eat till putrid. They devour stinking flesh in preference to sweet, as the following facts will clearly prove. Should a Spaniard, an Indian, and a Negro sleep together near the same fire and in the same place, the tiger will reject the Spaniard and Indian without hesitation, and rush to devour the Negro; for Negroes' flesh they reckon a dainty, because it is most stinking. Tigers will devour, to the last morsel, horses' carcasses streaming with liquid putrefaction, though living horses be at hand. Both Spaniards and Indians conspire against these destructive beasts. They construct a very large chest, like a mousetrap, composed of immense pieces of wood, and supported upon four wheels, and drag it with four oxen into that place where they have discovered traces of tigers. In the farthest corner of the chest, a very stinking piece of flesh is placed, by way of bait, which is no sooner laid hold of by the tiger, than the door of the chest falls and shuts him in, and he is killed by a musket or a spear put through the interstices of the planks. In the town of the Rosary we spied a tiger not yet full grown, but menacing and formidable to all he met, in a wood, a gun's shot distant from my house. Myself and three armed Spaniards flew to kill him; on seeing us, by flying here and there amongst the trees and brambles, he contrived to get out of sight. Following his footsteps we found him lurking in an aged, very large, and almost hollow tree, which, to deprive the tiger of all egress or means of escape, we strewed about with pieces of wood, making a hole in the side of it, that the lurking beast might be put to death with arms, which I at last effected without the least danger to myself. You cannot conceive how the tiger leapt up and down in the hollow of the tree after receiving a few wounds. The skin, which was pierced with shot and the sword till it was like a sieve, could be made no use of, though the flesh afforded the Abipones a sumptuous supper. But as tigers are possessed of singular strength, swiftness, and cunning, it is scarcely safe for one person to pursue them in the open plain. I do not deny that a tiger may be sometimes pierced or strangled, by a Spaniard or Indian alone. But a Spaniard or Indian is often torn to pieces by a tiger from the spear's thrust missing, or failing to inflict a mortal blow; for unless the interior of the head, the heart, or the spine of the back be wounded, this powerful beast does not fall, but gets infuriated, and attacks the aggressor with rage proportioned to the pain of the wound.

On this account, whenever any of those beasts are to be destroyed, many men armed with spears unite together; the use of the musket alone is almost always dangerous; for unless the tiger is knocked down by the first ball, he leaps furiously to the place whence the fire proceeded, and tears the man that inflicted the wound. He, therefore, that does not choose to run the risk of his life, goes accompanied on each side by two spearmen, who pierce the tiger as it advances to attack him, after he has fired his musket. Taught by the danger of others, I found that bullets must not be rashly used against tigers. Travelling with six Mocobios, from the city of Santa Fè to the town of St. Xavier, I passed the night on the banks of the round lake, in the open air, as usual; the earth was our bed, the sky our covering. The fire, our nightly defence against tigers, shone for a while in the midst of us as we slept, but at length grew very low. In the middle of the night a tiger crept towards us. My Indian companions, that they might not appear distrustful of the friendship of the Spaniards, had begun the journey unarmed. Anticipating no danger, I had neglected to load my musket. At my direction, firebrands were dexterously hurled at the approaching tiger. At each throw he leapt back roaring, but resumed courage, and returned again and again, more threatening than before. Meantime I loaded my musket. But as the darkness deprived me of all hope of killing the tiger, and left me only the desire to escape, I loaded my musket with plenty of shot, and fired it off without a ball. The beast, alarmed at the horrid thundering, instantly fled, and we lay down to sleep again, rejoicing in our success. Next day, at noon, in a narrow path, bounded on one side by a lake, and on the other by a wood, we met two tigers, which would have been caught with a noose by the pursuing Mocobios, had they not fled and hidden themselves in the wood.

Innumerable tigers are yearly caught with leathern thongs by the Spaniards and Indians, on horseback, and are strangled, after being swiftly dragged for some time along the ground. The Pampas wound the tiger's back with a slender arrow, and kill him instantly. At other times, for the same purpose, they use very strong arrows, or three round stones suspended from thongs, which they hurl at the tiger. How great their strength must be you may judge from this, that if they meet two horses in the pastures tied together with a thong to prevent their escaping, they will attack and slay the one, and drag him, along with the other live one, to their den. I should not have believed this, had I not myself witnessed it, when travelling in company with the soldiers of St. Iago. Their cunning is equal to their strength. If the wood and the plain deny them food, they will procure it by fishing in the water. As they are excellent swimmers, they plunge up to their neck in some lake or river, and spout from their mouths the white froth, which, swimming on the surface of the water, the hungry fishes eagerly devour as food, and are quickly tossed on to the shore by the claws of the tigers. They also catch tortoises, and tear them from their shells by wondrous artifice, in order to devour them. Sometimes a tiger, lurking unseen under the high grass or in a bramble bush, quietly watches a troop of horse passing by, and rushes with impetuosity on the horseman that closes the company. On rainy and stormy nights they creep into human habitations, not in search of prey or food, but to shelter themselves from the rain and from the cold wind.

Though the very shadow of this beast is enough to create alarm, yet those are most to be dreaded which have already tasted human flesh. Tigers of this description have an intense craving after men, and continually lie in wait for them. They will follow a man's footstep for many leagues till they come up with the traveller.

It will be proper in this place to give account of some methods of defence against tigers. If you climb a tree to avoid falling into the clutches of a tiger, he will ascend it also. In this case urine must be your instrument of defence. If you cast this into the eyes of the tiger, when he is threatening you at the foot of the tree, you are safe—the beast will immediately take to flight. In the night a blazing fire affords great security against tigers. Dogs also are dreaded by them, though these they sometimes cruelly flay and tear to pieces. The Spaniards have mastiffs which are very formidable to tigers. In the town of St. Ferdinand a tiger often stole by night into the sheepfolds, killed the sheep, sucked their blood, and leaving their bodies, carried away their heads. This audacity at length appearing to us no longer endurable, at sun-set twenty Abipones armed themselves with spears to kill the mischievous beast, and placed themselves in ambush. Another, armed with pistols, lay down in the midst of the flock. Though the men were silently concealed in the court-yard close by, yet the tiger, aware of the circumstance, either from the smell or hearing, durst not approach the sheepfold. At length, despairing of his arrival, the watchers, about night-fall, returned to their huts. Scarcely had they turned their backs, when the tiger returned and tore to pieces ten sheep. To search him out, all the Abipones that were at home set off on foot, armed on both sides with spears, ready to strike whenever the beast appeared. At the request of the Indians, I closed the company, armed with a gun and bayonet and some pistols. After diligently exploring the vicinity, as no tiger appeared, we returned home without effecting our business, and saluted by the hisses of the women. But the very same tiger at sun-set daily approached the town, to tear away part of the carcass of a dead horse, without ever being caught by the Indians who lay in wait for him. The Abipones have continual contests with tigers, and unless the spear misses, are uniformly victorious. Hence an Abipon is very rarely devoured by a tiger, but innumerable tigers are devoured by the Abipones. Their flesh, though horridly ill-savoured even when quite fresh, is eagerly craved after by the equestrian savages, who also drink melted tiger's fat, esteeming it nectar, and even believing it a means of producing valour. They all detest the thought of eating hens, eggs, sheep, fish, and tortoises, imagining that those tender kinds of food engender sloth and languor in their bodies, and cowardice in their minds. On the other hand, they eagerly devour the flesh of the tiger, bull, stag, boar, anta, and tamandua, having an idea that, from continually feeding on these animals, their strength, boldness, and courage are increased. In repeated battles with tigers many persons are wounded by their claws. The scars, after the wounds are healed, occasion excessive pain and burning, which no time nor medicine can ever relieve. The tigers themselves are tormented with the heat of their own claws, and in order to relieve the pain, they rub them against the tree _seibo_, and leave the mark of their nails in the bark.

The tiger spares no living creature; all it attacks, but with various fortune and success: for horses and mules, unless they save their lives by speedy flight, are generally overcome; asses, when they can gain a place where they may defend their backs, repel the assailant, by going round and round, and kicking very quickly for a long time; but in the open plain they seldom obtain a victory. Cows, trusting to their horns, defend themselves and their calves with the utmost intrepidity. Mares, on the contrary, at the approach of a tiger, desert their foals and take to flight. Antas lie down on their backs, await the advancing foe with expanded arms, and immediately on his assault squeeze him to death, if we may credit the testimony of the natives. Tigers' skins are used by the Abipones for breastplates, for horsecloths, for carpets, and for wrappers. In Spain, every skin is sold for four, and sometimes six German florens. In the hope of gain, a number of Spaniards join together in Paraguay, and go out to hunt tigers. A vast quantity of tigers' skins are yearly sent to Spain. In the city of Sta. Fè, I knew a Spaniard at first indigent, who, from this trade in skins, within a few years excited the envy of others by his opulence.

To the tiger kind belong two other wild beasts, but smaller, and not so ferocious. One of them is called by the Spaniards _onza_, the other by the Guaranies _mbaracaya_. These, though seldom offensive to other animals, often depopulate a whole henroost by night, but are seldom seen by day.

THE LION.

The Paraguayrian lions seem unworthy of so great a name; for they are quite unlike those of Africa in form, size, and disposition. They never attempt any thing against horses, oxen, and men, and are dreaded only by calves, foals, and sheep. The Paraguayrian lions suit well with the old Spanish saying, _No es tan bravo el leon, como se pinta_, the lion is not so fierce as his picture. You can scarce distinguish their flesh from veal, so that the Spaniards and Indians devour it with avidity. Their skin is tawny and spotted with white. Their head is large and round, their eyes sparkling, and nose flat. Their whiskers are composed of long hard hairs, like bristles, for I have handled them myself; but hear on what occasion. The guards of the estates, both Spaniards and Indians, had a custom of preserving the heads of the lions and tigers which they slew, fastened with stakes to the folds of the cattle, as testimonies of their vigilance and courage, in the same manner as the heads and hands of criminals are seen fixed to a pole in the place appointed for their punishment. In a certain estate I got up upon the hedges, examined the heads of the lions and tigers, of which there was an immense number, observed their eyes, ears, and teeth, and tore some hair out of the whiskers of the tigers, which resembled wire, were thick at the root, and endued with a kind of elastic property. I cannot understand why the Abipones do not rear the whelps of lions, as they reckon tigers' whelps a dainty, though they are never procured without danger. Before they are full grown they give proofs of their native ferocity, and with their little tender claws and teeth fly upon all they meet, especially in the heat of the sun. One man deprived a tiger's whelp of its teeth and claws, to prevent it from doing any mischief, but though destitute of its arms, it used to rush upon children and calves, and would certainly have crushed and strangled them, had they not been instantly rescued. That the danger might not increase as he grew up, he was forced to be shot.

THE WILD CAT.

In most of the woods you may see wild cats, differing from the domestic ones in our country in no other respect except that the extremity of the tail is flatter and more compressed, and that they are superior in size. They are also of various colours. The Indians eat them roasted, but being extremely swift and shy, they are not killed without difficulty. We had a young cat in the town of Conception, born of a tame mother and a wild father, than which I never saw a larger or handsomer, or one more ferocious and fugitive.

THE ANTA, OR THE GREAT BEAST.

The more secluded woods towards the north are the haunts of this animal, which the Spaniards call the Anta, or _La gran bestia_. In size it resembles a full grown ass: in shape, if you except its eyes, head, and feet, a pig. It has rather short ears, inclining towards the forehead, very sharp teeth and lips, like those of a calf, the upper part of which somewhat resembles a proboscis, and is thrust forward by the animal when he is angry. The fore feet are cloven into two hollow nails, the hind feet into three. A smooth unhairy appendage supplies the place of a tail. The skin is of a tawny colour and extremely thick, on which account it is dried in the air by the Spaniards and Abipones, and used for a breast-plate to ward off the blows of swords and arrows, but is penetrable to shot and to spears. This beast flies the sight of man, though possessed of such extraordinary strength as, when caught with a rope, to drag along with him in his flight both horse and rider. It generally sleeps in the day-time, and by night, wandering up and down the recesses of the woods, feeds upon herbs; it frequently betrays itself by the rustling noise it makes in breaking the branches of shrubs and trees as it walks about the woods. The Indians who inhabit the woods lay traps, made of stakes, to catch the antas, or concealing themselves in some thicket, imitate the sound of their voices, and pierce the beasts on their arrival with arrows; for their flesh, either fresh or hardened by the air, is continually eaten by the savages, though its toughness renders it rather unpalatable. In the stomach of the anta lies a pouch, which is often found to contain a number of bezoar stones, scarce bigger than a hazle-nut, not oblong nor oval, but polygonous, and of the colour of ashes or lead. These are thought by physicians superior to the bezoar stones supplied by other beasts, and more efficacious as medicine. Arapotiyu, the young Indian whom I brought from the woods of Mbaeverà, which the savages call the country of the antas, gave me a heap of these bezoar stones:—"Take, father," said he, "these most salutary little stones, which I have collected from the antas I have killed." On my inquiring what virtue they attributed to them, and how they were used in the woods, he replied—"Whenever we are seized with a malignant heat, we rub our limbs with these antas' stones, after warming them at the fire, and receive immediate relief." This use of the bezoar stone I submit to the judgment of physicians, for it must be confessed I never made trial of its virtues. The nails of antas are much esteemed by the Spaniards, as remedies for ill-health, and worn by them as amulets, to defend them from noxious airs: they are said to be sold in the druggists' shops in Europe, for various medicinal purposes, especially for persons afflicted with epilepsy, small-pox, and measles, as is related by Woytz in his Medico-physical Thesaurus, where he affirms that antas are often afflicted with epilepsy or the falling-sickness, and that, to relieve the pain, they rub the left ear with the nail of the fore foot. The truth of the fact must be looked to by those who have affirmed it, and have hazarded the assertion that the anta is called by the Germans _elendthier_, the miserable beast, because it is subject to epilepsy. But in reality it was called by the old Germans _elck_, by the Greeks αλκη, and by the Latins _alx_ or _alce_. As it appears from all writers, that elks are horned in the northern countries of Europe, and as I myself saw, that those in Paraguay have no horns, I began to doubt whether they were not a different animal altogether, and only bore the same name on account of some similitude.

I do not agree with those who call elks _equi-cervi_, mongrel creatures born of a stag and a mare. This cannot be imagined for a moment of the Paraguayrian antas, which inhabit the roughest and most rugged forests, not only unknown but almost inaccessible both to horses and stags. The antas choose plains full one hundred leagues distant, where they can never meet with either of those animals. However this may be, I advise giving credit to those who, in the present age, have written more fully on natural history from authority.

THE HUANACO.

This animal, which the Spaniards call Guanáco, and the Abipones Hakahátak, as it has no name in Latin, may be called ελαφοκαμηλον, a cameleopard, as the ostrich is called a camel. For whilst it resembles a stag in other particulars, its head, neck, the bunch on its back, the fissure of the upper lip, and the tail a span long, are like those of a camel. Its feet are cloven, and its skin shaggy, and for the most part of a reddish colour. The hair of this beast serves to make hats with. Its flesh is eaten both by Spaniards and Indians. Its swiftness stands it in the stead of arms. It never attempts to kick or bite, but when offended by any one, spits at him in a rage; this saliva is commonly said first to create a red pustule, and afterwards to bring on the mange. Like goats, these animals inhabit rocks and high mountains, but come down in flocks, at pleasure, for the sake of the pasture in the plains below the mountains; mean time one of the males occupies a high place, whence, like a watchman from a tower, he sees if any danger is near, and surveys every part of the neighbourhood. The whole flock hurries away upon any alarm, the females going before, and the males closing the company. This is seldom a panic terror, for the huanacos, whilst occupying the pastures in the plain, are often caught by the Spanish horsemen; but very swift horses are necessary for this business, as they run extremely quick. I have often seen flocks of these animals, when travelling in Tucuman, on the Cordoban mountains. Hearing the sound of approaching horses, they crowd to the highest summits of the rocks, whence, ranged like soldiers in a long file, they look down upon the horses as they pass underneath, neigh for some time in a manner strongly resembling human laughter, and presently, struck with sudden terror, for they are extremely timorous, scour off in all directions. This spectacle frequently amused and delighted us Europeans. Huanacos, though very wild and shy, may be easily tamed in the towns, when young. Besides the skin and flesh of the huanacos, the bezoar stone, which is often found in their insides, is of value. It sometimes weighs more than a pound, is always oval, scarce smaller than a hen's egg, and painted, like marble, with most exquisite colours. Most probably it derives this medicinal property from the animal's feeding upon wholesome herbs, which grow in the mountains: its virtues, however, are thought little of by the physicians of these times, who despise old prescriptions.

THE PERUVIAN SHEEP LLAMÁS.

Peru, the neighbour of Paraguay, produces wild animals, in which the bezoar of various colours, forms, and sizes, is found: namely, the native sheep, which the Indians call Llamás, the Spaniards Carneros de la Tierra, and which are used, like beasts of burden, for carrying weights, not exceeding one hundred pounds.

THE VICUÑA.

This country likewise produces Vicuñas, animals equal in size to a goat in our country, but not horned, and clothed with wool of a darkish yellow colour, softer than silk, and much esteemed by Europeans. A garment made of this wool cools the body when the sun is oppressively hot. It is said to cure pains in the kidneys, and to assuage the torture of the gout. The flesh of the vicuña, though unsavoury to the palate, is eaten by the Indians; it is also used as medicine. A man who had got a disorder in his eyes, from walking for a long time amidst snow in Peru, was presently relieved of the pain by a piece of vicuña's flesh, applied to the part affected, by an Indian woman.

THE PACO, MACOMORO, & TARÙGA.

Peru also boasts of pacos, macomoros, and tarùgas, which are almost of the same use and appearance as the former, and in like manner produce the bezoar stone.

THE TAMANDUA, OR ANT-EATER.