THE TIGER.
Paraguay abounds in tigers from the number of its cattle, which are the food of these beasts. They are all marked with black spots, but the skin of some is white, that of others yellow. As the African lions far exceed those of Paraguay in size and ferocity, the African tigers yield in like proportion to the Paraguayrians in the size of their bodies. In the estate of St. Ignatius, which belongs to the Cordoban college, we found the skin of a tiger, that had been killed the day before, fastened to the ground with wooden pegs: it measured three ells and two inches in length, which is no smaller than the dimensions of the hide of a full grown ox. But the largest tiger is much slenderer than any ox.
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.