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.