Chapter III: Part 3

The species of the ounce (_fig. 104._) seems to be more numerous, and more diffused than that of the panther; it is very common in Arabia, Barbary, and the southern parts of Asia, Egypt, perhaps, excepted.[G] They are even known in China, where they are distinguished by the name of _hinen-pao_.[H] The ounce is employed for the chace, in the hot climates of Asia, because dogs are very rarely to be found unless transported thither, and then they very soon lose not only their voice but their instinct.[I] Besides the panther, ounce, and leopard, have such an antipathy to dogs, that they attack them in preference to all other animals.[J] In Europe our sporting dogs have no enemy but the wolf; but in countries full of tigers, lions, panthers, leopards, and ounces, which are all more strong and cruel than the wolf, to attempt to keep dogs would be in vain. As the scent of the ounce is inferior to that of the dog, he hunts solely by the eye; with such vigour does he bound, that a ditch, or a wall of several feet high, is no impediment to his career; he often climbs trees to watch for his prey, and when near, will suddenly dart upon them; and this method is also adopted by the panther and leopard.

[Footnote G: Maserier affirms that there are neither lions, tigers, nor leopards in Egypt. _Descrip. Egypt, Tom. II._]

[Footnote H: A kind of leopard or panther found in the province of Pekin; it is not so ferocious as the ordinary tigers. _Thevenot._]

[Footnote I: Vide Voyage de Jean Ovington, _Tom. I. p. 278_.]

[Footnote J: The leopards, says le Maire, are deadly enemies to dogs, and devour all of them they meet.]

The Leopard, (_fig. 103._) has the same manners and disposition as the panther; but in no part does he appear to have been tamed like the ounce; nor do the Negroes of Senegal and Guinea, where he greatly abounds, ever make use of him in the chace. He is generally larger than the ounce, but smaller than the panther; and his tail, though shorter than that of the ounce, is from two to two feet and a half in length. This leopard of Senegal and Guinea, to which we have particularly appropriated the name of _leopard_, is probably the animal which at Congo is called the _Engoi_; and perhaps also the _Antamba_[K] of Madagascar. I quote these names, from a persuasion that an acquaintance with the denominations applied to them in the countries which they inhabit would increase our knowledge of animals.

[Footnote K: The antamba is a beast as large as a dog; it has a round head, and, in the opinion of the Negroes, resembles the leopard; it devours both men and cattle, and is only to be found in the most unfrequented parts of the island. _Flacourt's Voyage._]

The species of the leopard seems to be subject to more varieties than that of the panther and the ounce. I have examined many leopards' skins which differed from each other, not only in the ground colour, but in the shade of the spots which last are always smaller than those of the panther or the ounce. In all leopards' skins, the spots are nearly of the same size and the same figure, and their chief difference consists in their colour being deeper in some than in others; in being also more or less yellow, consists also the difference in the hair itself; but as all these skins are nearly of the same size, both in the body and tail, it is highly probable they belong to the same species of animals.

The panther, ounce, and leopard, are only found in Africa, and the hottest climates of Asia; they have never been diffused over the northern, nor even the temperate regions. Aristotle speaks of the panther as an animal of Asia and Africa, and expressly says, it does not exist in Europe. It is impossible, therefore, that these animals, which are confined to the torrid zone of the old continent, could ever have passed to the new world by any northern lands; and it will be found, by the description we shall give of the American animals of this kind, that they are a different species, and ought not to be confounded with those of Africa and Asia, as they have been by most of our nomenclators.

These animals, in general, delight in the thickest forests, and often frequent the borders of rivers, and the environs of solitary habitations, where they surprise their prey, and seize equally the tame and wild animals that come there to drink. Men they seldom attack, even though provoked. They easily climb trees in pursuit of wild cats and other animals, which cannot escape them. Though they live solely by prey, and are usually meagre, travellers pretend that their flesh is not unpalatable; the Indians and negroes eat it, but they prefer that of the dog. With respect to their skins, they are all valuable, and make excellent furs. The most beautiful and most costly is that of the leopard, which, when the colours are bright, not unfrequently sells for eight or nine guineas.

THE JAGUAR.

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.

Almost all the authors who have written the History of the New World, mention this animal, some by the name of tiger or leopard, and others under the names given them at Brasil, Mexico, &c. The first who gave a particular description of him were Piso and Marcgrave, who called him jaguara, instead of janouara, his Brasilian name. They also speak of another animal of the same genus, and perhaps of the same species, under the name of jaguarette; but, like those two authors, we have distinguished them from each other, because there is a probability of their being different species; but whether they are really so, or only varieties of the same species, we cannot determine, having never seen but one of the kinds. Piso and Marcgrave say, that the jaguarette differs from the jaguar, by its hair being shorter, more glossy, and of a different colour, being black, interspersed with spots of a still deeper black. But from the similitude in the form of his body, in his manners, and disposition, he may, nevertheless, be only a variety of the same species, especially as, according to the testimony of Piso, the ground colour of the jaguar, as well as that of the spots, vary in different individuals; he says that some are marked with black, and others with red or yellowish spots; and with regard to the difference of colour, that is, of grey, yellow, or black, the same is to be met with in other species of animals, as there are black wolves, black foxes, black squirrels, &c. If such variations are not so common among wild as tame animals, it is because the former are less liable to those accidents which tend to produce them. Their lives being more uniform, their food less various, and their freedom less restrained, their nature must be more permanent, that is, less subject to accidental alterations and changes in colour.

The jaguar is found in Brasil, Paraguay, Tucuman, Guiana, in the country of the Amazons, in Mexico, and in all parts of South America. At Cayenne, however, this animal is more scarce than the cougar, which they denominate red tiger, nor is the jaguar so common now in Brasil, which appears his native country, as it was formerly. A price has been set upon his head, so that many of them have been destroyed, and the others have withdrawn themselves from the coasts to the inland parts of the country. The jaguarette appears to have been always more scarce, or at least to have inhabited those places which were distant from the haunts of men, and the few travellers who mention him appear to have drawn their accounts entirely from Marcgrave and Piso.

_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._

SUPPLEMENT.

M. le Brun had a female Jaguar of New Spain (_fig. 105._) sent him in the year 1775; it appeared very young, and was much less than the one described in the original work, this measuring one foot eleven inches long, and the former two feet five inches; there was a great resemblance between them, and the differences only such as are common to the varieties of the same species. The ground colour of the one we are now speaking of was a dirty grey intermixed with red: the spots were yellow, bordered with black; its head yellow, and ears black, with a white spot on the external part.

Among a number of excellent remarks made by M. Sonnini de Manoncour, respecting the jaguars of Guiana, he says, "the hair of the young jaguar is not frizzled, as stated by M. de Buffon, but perfectly smooth, and with regard to their only equalling the size of an ordinary dog, I have had the skin of one that measured near five feet from the nose to the tail, which was two feet long; and from the tracks I have seen of these animals I have little doubt of the American tigers being as large as those of Africa, except the royal tiger, the largest animal to which that name is given; for the panther, which M. de Buffon considers the largest, does not exceed five or six feet when full grown, and it is certain that some of these animals exceed those dimensions. When young their colour is a deep yellow, which becomes lighter as they advance in years. He is not by any means an indolent animal; he constantly attacks dogs, commits great devastation among flocks, and in the desarts is even formidable to men. In a journey I made through these forests, we were tormented with one for three successive nights, and yet he avoided all our attempts to destroy him; but finding we kept up large fires, of which they are much afraid, he at last left us with a dismal howling. At Cayenne the natives have an idea that the jaguar would rather destroy them than the whites, but it is not so with the savages, with whom I have travelled through the desarts, and never found them to have any particular terror; they slept as we did, with their hammocks suspended, making a little fire under them, which often went out before the morning; and, in short, took no particular precautions, where they knew themselves surrounded with those animals. (This, observes M. Buffon, is a strong proof that they are not very dangerous animals to men.) The flesh of the jaguar is not good. All the animals of the new continent fly from him, not being able to withstand his power: the only one capable of making any tolerable resistance is the ant-eater, who, on being attacked, turns on his back, and often preserves himself by the strength of his long claws."

THE COUGAR.

The Cougar, (_fig. 106._) is longer but less thick than the jaguar; he is more agile, more slender, and stands higher on his legs; he has a small head, long tail, and short hair, which is nearly of one entire colour, namely, a lively red, intermixed with a few blackish tints, particularly on his back. He is neither marked with stripes like the tiger, nor with spots like the panther, ounce, or leopard. His chin, neck, and all the inferior parts of his body are whitish. Though not so strong as the jaguar he is as fierce, and perhaps more cruel. He appears more ravenous, for having once seized his prey, he kills it, and without waiting to tear it to pieces, he continues to eat and suck alternately, until he has gorged his appetite and glutted his blood-thirsty fury.

These animals are common in Guiana. They have been known formerly to swim over from the continent to Cayenne, in order to devour the flocks; insomuch that they were at first considered as the scourge of the colony; but by degrees the settlers lessened their numbers, and by continually hunting them have compelled the remainder to retire far from the cultivated parts of the country. They are found in Brasil, Paraguay, and in the country of the Amazons; and there is reason to believe that the animal, described by some travellers, under the name of the Ocorome, in Peru, is the same as the cougar, as well as that in the country of the Iroquois, which has been considered as a tiger, though it is neither striped like that animal, nor spotted like the panther.

The cougar, by the lightness of his body, and length of his legs, seems to be more calculated for speed, and climbing of trees, than the jaguar. They are equally indolent and cowardly, when glutted with prey; and they seldom attack men unless they find them asleep. When there is a necessity for passing the night in the woods, the kindling a fire is the only precaution necessary to prevent their approach.[L] They delight in the shades of forests, where they hide themselves in some bushy tree, in order to dart upon such animals as pass by. Though they live only on prey, and drink blood more often than water, yet it is said their flesh is very palatable. Piso says, it is as good as veal; and Charlevoix, and others, have compared it to mutton. I think it is hardly credible that the flesh can be well tasted; and therefore prefer the testimony of Desmarchais, who says, the best thing about this animal is his skin, of which they make horse-cloths, his flesh being generally lean and of a disagreeable flavour.

[Footnote L: The Indians on the banks of the Oronoka, in Guiana, light a fire during the night in order to frighten away the tigers who dare not approach the place at long as the fire remains burning.]

SUPPLEMENT.

Mr. Colinson mentions another species of cougar, which is found on the mountains of Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and the adjacent provinces, and which, from his account, seems to differ very much from that just described; his legs being shorter, and his body and tail much longer, but in colour, and in the shape of the head, they have a perfect resemblance.

M. de la Borde describes three species of rapacious animals at Cayenne; first, the jaguar, which they call tiger; the second, the cougar, or red tiger; (the former is about the size of a large bull-dog, and the latter much smaller) and the third they call black tiger, which we have termed black cougar. (_fig. 102._) "Its head, continues M. de la Borde, is somewhat like that of a common cougar; it has long black hair, a long tail, and large whiskers, but is much less than the other. The skin of both the jaguar and cougar are easily penetrated even with the arrows of the Indians. When very hard set for food, they will attack cows and oxen; in this case they spring upon their backs, and having brought them to the ground, they tear them to pieces, first opening their breasts and bellies, to glut themselves with their blood; they then drag pieces of flesh into the wood, covering the remainder with branches of trees, and keeping near to feed upon it, until it begins to putrify, when they touch it no more. They will keep near a flock of wild hogs, for the purpose of seizing the stragglers, but cautiously avoid being surrounded by them. They often seek for prey on the sea-shore, and devour the eggs left there by the turtles: they also make prey of the caïmans, or alligators, lizards, and fishes; to take the former, they use the craft of lying down by the edge of the water, which they strike so as to make sufficient noise to attract his attention, who will come towards the place, and no sooner puts his head above water, than his seducer makes a certain spring at him, kills and drags him to some convenient place where he may devour him at leisure. It is said by the Indians that the jaguar decoys the agouti in the same manner, by counterfeiting his cry. They sometimes eat the leaves and buds of the Indian figs; they are excellent swimmers, and cross the largest rivers. They seldom have more than one young at a time, which they hide in the trunks of hollow trees. They eat their flesh at Cayenne, and, when young, it is as white as that of a rabbit."

The cougar is easily tamed, and rendered nearly as familiar as domestic animals.

THE LYNX.

The gentlemen of the Academy of Sciences have given a very accurate description of the Lynx, and have discussed with equal ingenuity and erudition the circumstances and names relative to this animal, which occur in the writings of the ancients. They have shewn that the lynx of Ælian is the same animal which they have dissected and described under the name of Lupus-cervarius, and justly censure those who have taken it for the Thos of Aristotle. This discussion is enriched with observations and reflections equally interesting and pertinent; it is a pity, therefore, they had not adopted its real name of lynx, instead of that which is the same that Gaza gave to the _thos_ of Aristotle. Having, like Oppian, intimated that there are two species or races of the lynx, the one large, which chaces the stag and fallow-deer, and the other smaller, which scarcely hunts any thing but the hare, they appear to have confounded the two species together, namely, the spotted lynx, which is commonly found in the northern countries; and the lynx of the Levant or Barbary, whose skin is of an uniform colour. I have seen both these animals alive, and they closely resemble each other in many particulars. They have both long stripes of black hair at the extremities of their ears. This very circumstance, by which Ælian first distinguished the lynx, belongs, in fact, to these animals only, and perhaps it was this which induced the Academy to consider them as the same species. But, independently of the difference of colour and spots upon the hair, it will appear extremely probable that they belong to two distinct species.

Klein says, that the most beautiful lynx belongs to Africa and Asia in general, and to Persia in particular; that he had seen one at Dresden, which came from Africa, which was finely spotted, and of a considerable height; that those of Europe, especially from Prussia, and other northern countries are less pleasing to the eye, that their colour is little, if at all, inclined to white, but rather of a reddish hue, with spots confused and huddled together. Without absolutely denying what M. Klein has here advanced, I must declare I could never learn from any other authority that the lynx is an inhabitant of the warm climates of Asia and Africa. Kolbe is the only writer who mentions the lynx as common at the Cape of Good Hope, and as perfectly resembling that of Brandenburg in Germany; but I have discovered so many mistakes in the writings of this author, that I never gave much credit to his testimony, unless when supported by that of others. Now all travellers mention having seen the spotted lynx in the North of Germany, in Lithuania, Muscovy, Siberia, Canada, and other northern regions of both continents; but not one, whose accounts I have read, asserts he met with this animal in the warm climates of Africa or Asia. The lynxes of the Levant, Barbary, Arabia, and other hot climates, are, as I before observed, of one uniform colour, and without spots; they cannot, therefore, be the same as that mentioned by Klein, which he says was finely spotted, nor that of Kolbe, which, according to his statement, perfectly resembled those of Brandenburgh. It would be difficult to reconcile these testimonies with the information we have from other hands. The lynx is certainly more common in cold than in temperate climates, and is at least very rare in hot ones. He was, indeed, known to the Greeks and Romans; a circumstance which does not, however, infer that he came from Africa, or the southern provinces of Asia. Pliny, on the contrary, says, that the first of them which were seen at Rome, came from Gaul in the time of Pompey. At present there are none in France, except possibly a few in the Alpine and Pyrenean mountains. But the Romans, under the name of Gaul, comprehended several of the northern countries; and, besides, France is not at this time so cold as it was in those times.

The most beautiful skins of the lynx come from Siberia, as belonging to the _Loup-cervier_, and from Canada, under the name of _chat-cervier_, because, like all other animals, they are smaller in the new than in the old world; and are therefore compared to the wolf in Europe, and to the cat in Canada. What seems to have deceived M. Klein, and might have deceived even more able writers is, first, that the ancients have said that India furnished lynxes to the god Bacchus; secondly, Pliny has placed the lynx in Ethiopia, and has said their hides and claws were prepared at Carpathos, now Scarpantho or Zerpantho, an island in the Mediterranean, between Rhodes and Candia; thirdly, Gesner has allotted a particular article to the lynx of Asia or Africa, in which there is the following extract of a letter from Baron Balicze. "You have not," says he to Gesner, "mentioned in your history of animals, the Indian or African lynx. As Pliny has mentioned it, the authority of that great man has induced me to send you a drawing of this animal, that you may include it in your list. This drawing was made at Constantinople. This animal is very different from the lynx of Germany, being much larger, has shorter and rougher hair, &c." Gesner, without making any reflections on this letter, contents himself with giving the substance of it, and intimating within a parenthesis, that the drawing never came to hand.

To prevent a continuance of these errors, let it be observed, first, that poets and painters have affixed tigers, panthers, and lynxes, to the car of Bacchus, as best pleased their fancies; or rather because all fierce and spotted animals were consecrated to that god; secondly, that it is the word _lynx_ which constitutes the whole of the ambiguity, since by comparing what Pliny says in one[M] passage with two others[N] it is plain that the Ethiopian animal which he calls lynx, is by no means the same as the chaus, or lupus-cervarius, which comes from the northern countries; and that it was from this name being improperly applied that the Baron Balicze was deceived though he considers the Indian lynx as a different animal from the German luchs, or our lynx. This Indian or African lynx, which he has described as larger and more full of spots than our lynx, was in all probability, a kind of panther. However true or erroneous this last conjecture may be, it appears that the lynx, of which we are now treating, is a stranger in the southern countries, and is found only in the northern parts of the new and old continents. Olaus says this animal is common in the forests of the North of Europe; Olearius, in speaking of Muscovy, asserts the same thing; Rosinus Lentilius observes that the lynx is common in Courland and Lithuania, and that those of Cassubia, a province of Pomerania, are very small, and not so much spotted as those of Poland and Lithuania; and lastly, Paul Jovius confirms these testimonies by adding, that the finest skins of the lynx come from Siberia, and that there is a great traffic carried on with them at Ustivaga, a town about 600 miles from Moscow.

[Footnote M: Vide Pliny, lib. VIII. cap. 19.]

[Footnote N: Ibid. VIII. c. 22, 23.]

This animal, which as we have shewn, prefers the cold to the temperate climates, is one of those which might have passed from one continent to the other through the northern regions, and this is probably the reason why we find him a tenant of the northern parts of America. Travellers have described him in such a manner as to preclude all mistake; and besides its skin forms an article of commerce between Europe and America. The lynx of Canada, as we have already remarked, is only smaller and whiter than those of Europe, and it is from this difference in size that they have been distinguished with the appellation of _chat-cervier_, and been considered by our nomenclators as animals of a different species. Without pronouncing decisively upon this question we shall only observe, that to all appearance the lynxes of Canada and of Muscovy are of the same species, first because the difference in size is not very considerable, since it is almost relatively the same as that which takes place between all animals common to both continents; the wolf, fox, &c. being smaller in America than they are in Europe, it cannot be expected to be otherwise with the lynx. Secondly, because, even in the north of Europe, these animals are found to vary in size; and authors mention two kinds, the one large and the other small. Thirdly, because they equally require the same climate, are of the same dispositions, the same figure, differing only in size, and a few trifling particulars of colour, circumstances not sufficient to authorize our pronouncing them to be two distinct species.

The lynx, of which the ancients have said his sight could penetrate opaque bodies, and whose urine possessed the properly of hardening into a precious stone, called Lapis Lyncurius, is an animal that never existed, any more than the properties attributed to him, except in fable. To the true lynx this imaginary one has no affinity but in name. We must not, therefore, following the example of most naturalists, attribute to the former, which is a real being, the properties of this imaginary one, the existence of which even Pliny himself does not seem disposed to believe, since he speaks of it as an extraordinary animal, and classes it with the sphynx, the pegasus, and other prodigies, or monsters, the produce of Ethiopia, a country with which the ancients were very little acquainted.

Our lynx, though he cannot see through stone walls, has bright eyes, a mild aspect, and an agreeable lively appearance. His urine produces not precious stones, but he covers it with earth, like the cats, to whom he has a near resemblance, and whose manners, and love of cleanliness are the same. In nothing is he like the wolf but in a kind of howl, which being heard at a considerable distance often deceives the hunters, by making them suppose they hear a real wolf. This alone, perhaps, is the cause of his having received the appellation of _loup_, and to distinguish him from the real wolf, and because he attacks the stags, the epithet of _cervarius_ might have afterwards been added. The lynx is not so big as the wolf, has shorter legs, and generally about the size of a fox. He differs from the panther and ounce in the following particulars; he has longer hair, his spots are less lively, and are badly disposed; his ears are much longer, and they have tufts of black hairs at the points; his tail is shorter, and is also black at the end; his eyes have a whitish cast, and his countenance is more agreeable, and less ferocious. The skin of the male is more spotted than that of the female. He does not run like the wolf, but walks and bounds like the cat. He lives upon other animals, and those he pursues to the tops of the highest trees, so that neither the wild-cat, pine-weasel, ermine, nor squirrel, can escape him. He also seizes birds, lies in wait for the stag, roe-buck, and hare, whom he seizes by the throat, sucks their blood, and then opens their heads to devour the brains; this done he frequently abandons them to go in search of fresh prey, and is seldom known to return to the former one; which has given rise to the remark, that of all animals the lynx has the shortest memory. His colour changes with the climate and the season. In winter his fur is much better than in summer, and his flesh, like that of all beasts of prey, is not good to eat.

SUPPLEMENT.

There is a Canadian Lynx in the Royal Cabinet in France, in fine preservation; it is only two feet three inches long, and rather more than thirteen inches high; its body is covered with long grey hair, striped with yellow, and spotted with black; its head also is grey, interspersed with white and yellow hairs, and shaded with a kind of black stripes; it has long white whiskers; its ears are more than two inches high, white on the inside, with yellow edges, the outside of a mouse colour, edged with black, and at the tip of each ear is a tuft of black hair seven lines high; it has a short tail, which is black from the end to about the middle, and the other part is of a reddish white; its belly, hind-legs, inside of the fore-legs and feet are of a dirty white, and it has long white claws. This lynx strongly resembles the one we have just described, except in the length of the tail and tuft on the ears, from which we may infer that the Canadian Lynx is a variety from that of the old continent.

Pontoppidan describes the lynx of Norway to be white with deep spots, and claws like those of a cat; he says there are four species there, some being like the wolf, others the fox, others the cat, and others with a head like that of a colt; the last of which is not only doubtful in itself, but throws a degree of suspicion on the veracity of the remainder.

The species of the lynx is very common throughout Europe, and also in the northern provinces of Asia. Their skins are very valuable, and much esteemed for muffs, &c. in Norway, Russia, and even as far as China, and notwithstanding they are very common, they sell at a high price.

THE CARACAL.

Though the Caracal[O] resembles the lynx in size, formation of the body, aspect, and the tufts of black hair at the extremities of the ears, I do not scruple from their disagreement in other respects, to treat of them as animals of a different species. The Caracal is not spotted like the lynx; his hair is rougher and shorter; his tail is longer, and of a uniform colour; his snout is longer, in aspect he is less mild, and in disposition more fierce. The lynx inhabits cold and at most temperate climates, while the caracal is to be found only in the warmest countries. It is as much from these differences of disposition and climate, that I judge them to be of different species, as from the inspection and comparison of the two animals, both of which I have examined and had designed from life.

[Footnote O: In Turkey it is called Kaarah-kula; Arabia Gat el Challah; in Persia Siyah-Gush, denoting in all three languages, _the cat with long ears_.]

The Caracal is common in Barbary, in Arabia, and in all those countries inhabited by the lion, panther, and ounce. Like them he depends on prey for subsistence, but from the inferiority of his size and strength, he has much difficulty to procure a sufficiency; frequently being obliged to be content with the leavings of the more powerful. He keeps at a distance from the panther, because that animal exercises its cruelty after being gorged with food; but he follows the lion, who, when the cravings of his appetite are satisfied, never injures any creature. From the remains left by this noble animal, the caracal not unoften enjoys a comfortable repast. Sometimes he follows, or even goes before, at no great distance, taking a refuge in the trees, when self-preservation renders it necessary, and where the lion cannot, like the panther, follow him. For all these reasons it is that the caracal has been called the Lion's Guide, or Provider; and it is said that the lion, whose smell is far from being acute, employs him to scent out his prey, and is permitted to enjoy the remains as a reward for his trouble.

The caracal[P] (_fig. 108._) is about the size of a fox, but more fierce, and much stronger. He has been known to attack, and in a few minutes, to tear in pieces a large dog, which defended himself to the utmost. He is very difficult to tame, yet if taken very young, and reared with care, he may be trained to the chace, to which he is by nature inclined, and in which he is very successful, especially if he be only let loose upon such animals as are inferior in strength, for he declines a service of danger with every expression of reluctance. In India they made use of him to catch hares, rabbits, and even large birds, whom he seizes with singular address and facility.

[Footnote P: The principal part of his body is of a reddish brown colour, the inferior parts of the neck and belly whitish; round his muzzle black, his ears of a dark shade, with a tuft of black hair from his extremities.]

SUPPLEMENT.

Mr. Bruce has informed me that he saw a caracal in Nubia, which differed from the one of barbary, just described; his face was more round, his ears black on the outside, intermixed with white hairs, and on the breast, belly, and inside of the thighs he had yellow spots. But this is a mere variety, of which there are several: for instance, in Lybia there is a caracal with white ears, and a white tail with four black rings at the end, and which is not bigger than a domestic cat; and if this were to establish a difference we might say there are two species of caracals in Barbary, the one large, with black ears and long tufts, and the other smaller, with white ears and short tufts.

THE HYÆNA.

Aristotle has left us two accounts by which alone the hyæna (_fig. 110._) might easily be distinguished from all other animals. Nevertheless, travellers and naturalists have confounded him with no less than four other species, namely, the jackall, glutton, civet, and the baboon; all of which are carnivorous and ferocious like the hyæna, and all have some few particular resemblances to him, whence these errors may have originated. The jackall inhabits the same countries, and like the hyæna resembles the wolf in form; like him also he feeds upon dead carcasses, and digs up graves to devour their contents. The glutton has the same voracity, the same appetite for corrupted flesh, the same propensity for digging the dead out of their graves; and though he belongs to a different climate, and his figure is widely different from that of the hyæna, yet from this affinity of disposition authors have thought themselves warranted in considering them as of the same species. The civet is a native of the same countries as the hyæna, and like him has a streak of long hair along the back, and also a particular opening, or glandular pouch; characteristics which belong only to a few animals, and which induced Bellon to suppose the civet was the hyæna of the ancients. As to the baboon, which has hands and feet like those of a man or a monkey, he resembles the hyæna still less than the other three, and it must be solely from their name that they have been confounded together.

The hyæna, according to Dr. Shaw, is called _dubbah_ in Barbary; and Marmol, and Leo Africanus, say, the baboon is distinguished by the name of _dabuh_; and as the baboon belongs to the same climates, scratches up the earth and is nearly of the same form with the hyæna; these circumstances first deceived travellers, and naturalists adopted their blunders without investigation; and even those who distinguished the two animals, retained the name of _dabuh_ to the hyæna, which in fact belongs to the baboon. It appears, then, that the hyæna is neither the _dabuh_ of the Arabians, the _jesef_ or _sesef_ of the Africans, nor the _deeb_ of Barbary. But to put a final stop to this confusion of names, I shall give, in a few words, the substance of the inquiries I have made with respect to those animals.

Aristotle calls it by two names, _hyæna_ and _glanus_; names which we may be assured are applied to the same animals by comparing the passages wherein they are mentioned.[Q] The ancient Latins retained the name hyæna, and never adopted that of glanus. In the writings of the modern Latins, however, we find the _ganus_, or _gannus_, and _belbus_ employed as names for the hyæna. According to Rasis, the Arabians call it _kabo_, or _zabo_, names that appear to be derived from the word _zeeb_, which, in their language denominates a wolf. In Barbary the hyæna bears the name of _dubbah_, as appears from the description given of this animal by Dr. Shaw.[R] In Turkey it is called _zirtlaat_, according to Nieremberg; in Persia _kaftaar_, as stated by Kæmpfer; and _castar_, according to Pietro della Valle. These are the only names which seem actually to refer to the hyæna; though it is nevertheless probable that the _lycaon_ and the _crocuta_ of India and Ethiopia, of which the ancients speak, are no other than the hyæna. Porphyry expressly says that the _crocuta_ of the Indies is the hyæna of the Greeks; and, indeed, all they have written, whether true or fabulous, respecting the lycaon and crocuta, bears some analogy to the nature of the hyæna. But we shall make no further conjectures on this subject until we treat of fabulous animals, and the affinities they have with real ones.

[Footnote Q: Aristotle Hist. Animal. lib. vi. c. 32. lib. viii. c. 5.]

[Footnote R: The Dubbah is nearly the size of the wolf. Its neck is so exceedingly stiff, that when it offers to look behind, or even on one side, it is obliged to turn the whole body, like the hog, the badger, and the crocodile. Its colour is somewhat inclined to a reddish brown, with a few brown streaks of a darker hue, it has very long hairs on the neck which it can occasionally erect. Its paws are large and well armed, with which it digs up plants, and sometimes dead bodies from their graves. Next to the lion and panther, the dubbah is the most fierce of all the animals of Barbary. As it is furnished with a mane, has a difficulty in turning the head, and scrapes up dead bodies from their graves, it has every appearance of being the hyæna of the ancients. _See Shaw's Travels._]

The panther of the Greeks, the _lupus canarius_ of Gaza, and the _lupus armenius_ of the modern Latins and Arabians, seem to be the same animal, that is, the jackall, which the Turks call _cical_, according to Pollux, and _thacal_ according to Spon and Wheeler; which the modern Greeks distinguish by the name of _zachalia_, the Persians _siechal_, or _schachal_, and the Moors of Barbary _deeb_; that of jackall, however, having been adopted by a number of travellers, to that we shall give the preference, and only remark at present, that he differs from the hyæna not only in size, figure, and colour, but in natural habits, for the hyæna is a solitary animal, while the jackall is seldom seen but in troops. After the example of Kæmpfer, some of our nomenclators have called the jackall _lupus aureus_, because his hair is of a lively yellow hue.

It is therefore evident, that the jackall is a very different animal from the hyæna; and no less so than the glutton, which is an animal confined to the northern regions of Lapland, Russia, and Siberia; it is a stranger even in the temperate climates, and therefore could never have inhabited Arabia, or any of the other warm countries in which the hyæna resides. It differs also in form, for the glutton bears a strong resemblance to a very large badger; his legs are so short that his belly almost reaches the ground; he has five toes on each of his feet, has no mane, and his body is covered with black hair, excepting sometimes a few reddish yellow hairs upon his sides; in short, he resembles him in nothing but in being exceedingly voracious. He was unknown to the ancients, who had made no great progress into the north of Europe. Olaus is the first author who mentions this animal and from his prodigious gluttony he called him _gulo_. In Sclavonia he afterwards obtained the name of _rosomak_, and in Germany _jerff_, or _wildfras_, and the French travellers have called him _glouton_. There are varieties in this species, as well as in that of the jackall, which we shall speak of when we come to the particular history of those animals, and shall only here observe, that those varieties, instead of assimilating them with the hyæna, render them additionally a more distinct species.

The civet has nothing in common with the hyæna but the glandular pouch, under the tail, and the mane along the neck and back-bone. It differs from the hyæna in figure and size, not being more than half as large; his ears are short and covered with hair, whereas those of the hyæna are long and naked; he has also short legs, and five toes upon each foot, while the legs of the hyæna are long, and he has only four toes upon each foot; nor does the civet dig up the earth in search for dead bodies. From these differences these animals are easily to be distinguished from each other.

With respect to the baboon, which is the _papio_ of the Latins, and as we have before observed, has been mistaken for the hyæna, merely from the ambiguity of names, which seems to have arisen from a passage of Leo Africanus, and since copied by Marmol. "The _dabuh_ say these authors, is of the size and form of the wolf; and scratches up dead bodies from their graves." From which it was supposed to mean the _dubbah_, or hyæna, although it is expressly stated in the same passages that the _dubbah_ has hands and feet resembling those of a man; a remark which, however applicable to the baboon, cannot be applied to the hyæna.

From taking a view of the _lupus-marinus_ of Bellon, which Gesner has copied, we might mistake it for the figure of the hyæna, to which it bears a great resemblance; but his description corresponds not with our hyæna, for he says, the _lupus-marinus_ is an amphibious animal which feeds on fish, and has sometimes been seen on the coasts of the British ocean; besides this author says nothing of the peculiar characteristics which distinguish the hyæna from all other animals. It is possible that Bellon, prepossessed with the notion that the civet was the hyæna of the ancients, has given the figure of the real one under the name of _lupus-marinus_, for so striking and singular are the characters of that animal, that it is hardly possible to be deceived in them; he is, perhaps, the only quadruped that has four toes upon each foot. Like the badger he has an aperture under the tail, which does not penetrate into the body; his ears are long, straight, and naked; his head is shorter and more square than that of the wolf; his legs are longer, especially the hind ones; his eyes are placed like those of the dog; the hair of his body and mane is of a dark grey, with a small intermixture of yellow and black, and disposed all along in waves, and though in size he equals the wolf, yet he has, nevertheless, a contracted appearance.

This wild and solitary animal resides in the caverns of mountains, the clefts of rocks, or in dens, which he forms for himself under the earth. Though taken ever so young he is not to be tamed; he is naturally ferocious. He lives like the wolf, by depredation, but he is more strong and daring. He sometimes attacks men, and darts with a ferocious resolution on all kinds of cattle; he follows the flocks, and even breaks down the sheep-folds in the night to get at his prey. His eyes shine in the dark, and it is asserted that he sees better by night than day. All naturalists who have treated of this animal, except Kæmpfer, say, that his cry resembles the noise of a man who is vomiting, while the latter asserts it to be like the lowing of a calf. He defends himself against the lion, stands in no awe of the panther, and attacks the ounce, which is incapable of resisting him. When at a loss for prey he scrapes up the earth with his feet, and tears out the carcasses of animals and men, which in the countries he inhabits are promiscuously buried in the fields. He is found in almost all the hot climates of Africa and Asia, and it is probable that the animal called _farasse_, at Madagascar, which resembles the wolf in figure, but is larger and stronger, is the same animal.

Of this animal more absurd stories have been told than of any other. The ancients have gravely written that the hyæna is alternately male and female; that when it brings forth, suckles and rears its progeny, it remains as a female the whole year, but the year following it resumes the functions of the male, and obliges its companion to submit to those of the female. The circumstance which gave rise to this fable is plainly the orifice under the tail, in both males and females, independently of the organs of generation peculiar to both sexes, and which are the same in the hyæna as in all other animals. It has also been affirmed that this animal could imitate the human voice, remember the names of shepherds, call upon, fascinate, and render them motionless; that he can terrify shepherdesses, cause them to forget and neglect their flocks, to be distracted in love, &c. All this might surely happen without the intervention of the hyæna! But I shall conclude here, to avoid the reproach which has been cast upon Pliny, that of taking pleasure in compiling and relating absurd fables.

SUPPLEMENT.

At the fair of St. Germain, in the year 1773, I saw a male hyæna; the one just described was very ferocious, and as I mentioned untameable, but this was perfectly gentle, for though his keeper made him angry for the purpose of erecting his mane, yet he seemed to forget it in a few moments, and suffer himself to be played with without any appearance of dislike. He exactly accorded with the description I have given, except his tail being entirely white.

_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._

In the island of Meroë there is a large kind of hyænas, so strong that they can run off with a man to the distance of more than a league without stopping. These are also of a darker colour, and erect their long hairs on the hind parts and not the front. Mr. Bruce informs me that he has observed, that when the hyænas are forced to take to flight, they are at first exceedingly lame of the left hind leg, and which continues for more than an hundred paces, so much so indeed as to give them the appearance of falling, and that it is the same also with those of Syria and Barbary.

THE CIVET AND THE ZIBET.

The generality of naturalists are of opinion that the perfume called civet, or musk, is furnished only by one species of animals. I have, however, seen two animals that furnish it, which, though they have many essential affinities, both in their external and internal conformations, yet differ in so many characteristics, that there is sufficient reason to consider them as two distinct species. To the first I have continued the original name of Civet, (_fig. 111._) and the second, for the sake of distinction, I have called Zibet (_fig. 113._) The civet seems to be the same as that described by the Academy of Sciences; by Caius, in Gesner, page 837, and by Fabius Columna, who has given both the male and female figures in the publication of Faber, which follows that of Hernandes. The _zibet_ appears to be the same animal as M. de la Peyronnie has described under the name of Musk Animal, in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences for the year 1731. Both differ from the civet in the very same characters; both want the mane, or the long hair, on the back-bone, and both have the tail marked with strong annular streaks. The civet, on the contrary, has a mane, but no rings on the tail. It must, however be acknowledged that our zibet, and the musk animal of M. de la Peyronnie, are not so perfectly similar as to leave no doubt of the identity of their species. The rings on the tail of the zibet are larger than those of the musk animal, and the length of his tail is shorter in proportion to that of his body; but these differences are slight, and appear to be mere accidental varieties, to which the civet must be more subject than any other wild animal, as they are reared and fed like domestic ones in many parts of the Levant and East Indies. Certain it is, that our zibet bears a stronger resemblance to the musk animal than to the civet, and consequently they may be considered as the same species. Nor, indeed, do we mean positively to affirm that civet and zibet are not varieties of the same species, but from their different characteristics there is a strong presumption they really are so.

_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._

The animal which we here name the Civet, is called the _falanoue_, at Madagascar, _nzime_, or _nzfusi_ at Congo, _kankan_ in Ethiopia, and _kastor_ in Guinea. That it is the civet of Guinea I am certain, for the one I had was sent from Guinea, to one of my correspondents at St. Domingo, where, after being fed for some time, it was killed for the more easy conveyance to Europe.