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第7章 震惊各大势力

Happily for mankind the range of this tremendous animal is limited to the warmer climates of the earth; and even in these the extent of that range is constantly becoming more and more confined by the spread of human civilization, which, at the same time that it drives him to take refuge at a distance from the haunts of men, contributes greatly to thin his numbers and to diminish his power of annoyance. His true country is Africa, in the vast and untrodden wilds of which, from the immense deserts of the north to the trackless forests of the south, he reigns supreme and uncontrolled. In the sandy deserts of Arabia, in some of the wilder districts of Persia, and in the vast jungles of Hindostan, he still maintains a precarious footing: but from the classic soil of Greece, as well as from the whole of Asia Minor, both of which were once exposed to his ravages, he has been utterly dislodged and extirpated.

In captivity the Puma readily becomes tame, and may even be rendered docile and obedient. His manners closely resemble those of the domestic cat; like it he is extremely fond of being noticed, raises his back and stretches his limbs beneath the hand that caresses him, and expresses his pleasure by the same quiet and complacent purring. They soon become attached to those with whom they are familiar; and numerous instances might be mentioned in which they have been suffered to roam almost at large about the house without any injurious results. One of these is no doubt familiar to many of our readers, occurring as it did under the roof of Mr. Kean, the tragedian, who possessed an animal of this species so tame as to follow him about almost like a dog, and to be frequently introduced into his drawing-room, when filled with company, at perfect liberty.

To what cause then, if the similarity between these two animals be so great, and the points of distinction between them so trifling, can we attribute the very different impressions which we have all received, and in all probability continue to cherish, with regard to their respective characters? Perhaps something like a plausible answer to this question may be found in the fact, that our notions of the Lion have been formed on the striking and exaggerated pictures of his noble qualities, for which we are indebted to the poets of antiquity, who contemplated him only in his captive and almost domesticated state; while our early ideas of the Tiger were derived in a great measure from the equally exaggerated statements of miserable and pusillanimous Hindoos, the spiritless and unresisting victims of every species of oppression, who regarded him with almost unspeakable horror as the merciless tyrant of their forests,—a tyrant whose ferocious temper and sanguinary ravages were equalled only by those of the human de

herefore commonly employed in Africa for the purpose of tracing a flying enemy to his retreat. They are in fact, both for symmetry and action, perfect models; and there are few sportsmen who will not regret that there appears no chance of crossing our own pointers with this interesting breed. A mixed race, combining the qualifications of both, would unquestionably be one of the most valuable acquisitions to our sporting stock; but, unhappily, this union seems to be altogether hopeless; for although they have now been more than three years in England, and are in excellent health and condition, they appear, like many other animals restrained of their liberty and kept constantly together, to have no disposition to perpetuate their race. The males are remarkably good tempered; the female on the contrary is surly and ill natured.

Notwithstanding the horror with which the natives regard this animal, it is said that they sometimes succeed in rendering him tame; and a whimsical story is told by the late Governor Clinton, on the authority of an Indian trader, of an insult offered to a domesticated bear of this species by an Indian of a different tribe from that to which the master of the bear belonged, being regarded as a national affront, and producing a[127] war between the two tribes. The same veracious trader, it should be added, did not scruple to affirm that the Grizzly Bear had actually been seen fourteen feet long: the greatest measurement given on any credible authority being somewhat less than nine feet. It may, however, well be doubted whether the Grizzly Bear is capable of being domesticated; for it would appear that all the known attempts that have hitherto been made to render him docile and obedient have completely failed. In the narrative of Major Long’s expedition, Mr. Say has given some particulars relative to the manners

d the lateral, to the number of six or seven on each side, consisting for the most part of a series of elongated spots with black margins, sometimes completely distinct, and sometimes running together. The centre of each of these spots offers a deeper tinge of fawn than the ground colour external to them; and this deeper tinge is also conspicuous on the upper part of the head and neck, and on the outside of the limbs, all of which parts are irregularly marked with full black lines and spots of various sizes. From the top of the head, between the ears, there pass backwards, towards the shoulders, two, or more frequently four, uninterrupted diverging bands, which are full black anteriorly, but generally bifurcate posteriorly and enclose a narrow fawn-coloured space within a black margin; between these there is a single longitudinal somewhat interrupted narrow black line, occupying the centre of the neck above. The ears are short and rounded, and externally margined with black, surrounding a large central whitis

Of the genus thus characterized there exist two well[73] marked and unquestionably distinct species, the Striped Hy?na, or Hy?na vulgaris of modern zoologists, which there can be no doubt is also the Hy?na of the ancients; and the Hy?na crocuta, or Spotted Hy?na, the Tiger Wolf of the colonists of the Cape of Good Hope. To these may probably be added a third species, which there is good ground for believing to be distinct, and which has lately been described by Dr. Andrew Smith, the superintendant of the South African Museum, under the name of Hy?na villosa: this is also a native of the vicinity of the Cape, and is denominated by the settlers the Strand Wolf, or Strand Jut. With the two latter we have, however, on the present occasion, no concern; the only animal of this genus in the Tower belonging to the striped race, which inhabits the greater part of Asia and of Africa, penetrating in the former as far as India, and extending over all the northern part of the latter continent. It does not appear that the

tip of that very variable organ is also constantly white; so that we are still driven to recur to the tail alone for the only uniform physical characteristics that have been pointed out to distinguish an animal, which every one recognises at first sight, and which indeed it is impossible to mistake.

Viverra Rasse. Horsf.