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Molester Initepenbcnt.W. H. MATTINGLY A CO., Pablinfcers.) CHESTER, : : INDIANAME BUT BAIN.Spkikkle, sprinkle, comes the n Tapping on the window-pane; Trickling, courting,To the dripping window-sills.Laughing rain-drops, light and swi : Throng'i the air thev fall and sift; Dancing, trinninc.Boundin. fterry feet. Every blade of grass around.ping, slidin On ttu y come With their busy zip and hum.To there -------Pushing, creeping, Dou ding, leaping, Down they go To the waiting liie below.Oh, the brisk and merry rTinkling, dancing All around—Listen to its cheery sound!—Fleta Forrester, in St. NicholasJor April.ONLY A LITTLE QBA VE.Onxy a little mound of earth.O’er which ti e sweet flowers grov Where the gay leaves drift in theOnly a little grave, you say.Yet unaer the flow’rets fair Lies a cherished form of winsome grace, My angel darling with sweet, pale face,And wavy, golden hair.Only a little grave, you said.As you ooldly turned away;Ah well, it may be yo i’ll sometime k:ic How lonely and sad one’s heart can g::o As mine has grown to-day.empty, and cold, and How much’of your joy and your happiness hereCan be buried iiSAVAGE ANIMALS IN THE UNITED STATES.It is rather startling to read of lions, tiger-cats, panthers, peccaries, and other beasts of '.ropical fierceness, as actual inhab. ants of what may be relatively termed near portions of the United States. And yet thet e animals are included within the existing fauna of Arkansas and Texas. The so-called Mexican lion is in reality the jaguar, a member of the same genus (Felis) as the African lion, and a large and formidable beast. It can both swim and climb with great facility, and is said to be able to carry a bu'lidck without difficulty. It is the most powerful and dangerous animal that roves the forests from Texas to Patagonia.The travelers who in!877rode “Two Thousand Miles in Texas on Horseback” several times encountered the jaguar. On one occasion they witnessed, in the region of the Concho River, a deadly race between one of this species and the antelope. “ They passed within thirty yards of us,” to quote from the travelers, “and neither appeared to notice us. The antelope seemed nea rl* exhausted, while the animal in pursuit bounded along without effort, as if conscious that the end was near. This was the jaguar—Felis onca —more commonly called the Mexican lion, • one of the most ferocious of beasts; color light-brown, body five to six feet in length, two and one-half to three feet in height, and a heavy, tigerlike head. Our first impulse was to relieve the pretty antelope by discharging a volley into the jaguar, but we concluded to watch the result. The | antelope changed his course, running '' through a narrow pass in the mount ains to our left, and both disappeared. We followed, and had gone but a few hundred vards when we, saw the antelope coming back in his tracks, the jaguar still in pursuit and a .most at his heels. When opposite us, about fifty yards off, the jaguar with an easy bound sprang into the air, alighting upon the antelope s shoulders. He clasped his fore-feet closely around the antelope’s neck, and buried his head under his throat—the poor animal in the meantime bawling and crying piteously. He staggered under the weight of the carnivore, and, after a few steps, fell to the ground, the latter still cling-ingto his throat,”At this point in the contest the travelers flew to the i-escue, and, when within fifteen paces, fired upon the jaguar. It fled to the cover, but the poor ! antelope was so badly injured that death was inevitable. A large wound had been torn at the base of his throat, from ' which it appeared that the jaguar had actually been drinking his blood during the last struggle. IWhile in the extreme we stern portion I of Texas, the same travelers made the j acquaintance of a second species of the 1 cat family, which also be ars the local name of lion. A chain of mountains j runs through this region, and in their ! fastnesses what is called the mountain j or American lion makes its home. One j of the tourists had one day wandered ' off alone in search of minerals, and un expectedly met with the chance of shooting a deer. Leaving the carcas where it fell, until he should return, the tourist went on still further into the wilds. Suddenly he heard a quick, guttural roar, which came from some object very near him. Dropping into a crevice in the rocks about him, he cautiously lifted his head above the rim to take observations. “ The roar was repeated two or three times in quick succession, and immediately there seemed to be several objects roaring all together. * * * Five splendid animals leaped into the open ravine, about 200 yards above me, and walked leisurely along, smelling the ground, and then stood still a moment, their heads erect, gazing to the front and right and left. One of them opene d with a roar, to which the others immediately responded in concert. * * * They resumed their march down the ravine in open view, till, reaching a large rounded rock about seventy-five yards from me, they leaped nimbly upon it, and there stood gazing :in every direction, roaring at times deeply, and lashing the air with their tails. The roaring was invariably began by one, to which the others immediately responded, repeated by each several times in succession. * * Whatwith'no mane, and much more fussy and restless than their lordly companions. While their lords stood quietly looking around, they were uneasily stepping hither and thither, as if inciting them on, and eager for adventure and blood. * * * Presently they leaped from the rock and walked slowly down the ravine. When they reached the point where I had crossed it, they stopped, smelling the ground, and roared at a prodigious rate, with a multitude of short, quick, deep grunts, at the same time lashing the air with their tails. * * * After a momentor two, they continued down the ravine, and disappeared behind a ledge of stone.”As soon as the beasts were out of sight, the observer imprisoned in the rocks made his way to camp, and. with reinforcements, started in pursuit of the game. On reaching the spot where the deer had been left only its horns, hoofs, and a few bones remained to tell of the feast the lions had enjoyed. The animals themselves were not in view, and no trace was afterward seen of them.In the hilly region of the Cibolo, the path of the travelers was crossed by a couple of panthers. The country is here desolate and grim, with a scanty forest-growth standing in patches among the rocks. While riding slowly along the solitary way, a sound like a miDgled shriek and wail broke on the ear. Says the graphic narrator of the scene: “I felt my hair rise, actually stand on end, butstill rode on toward a thicket on the right of the road, whence the noise seemed to come. As I approached it, my horse grew suspicious and pricked up his ears, and shied away from that side of the road. * * * When immediately opposite the thicket, everything*was as still as a mouse; but suddenly my horse leaped to the left, almost causing me to fall from my saddle, and at the same moment two splendid panthers bounded across the road immediately before me. I drew a breath of relief and laughed at myself for the agitation I had felt. * * * The panthers disappeared in the brush, but one of them leaped on a large stone not more than fifty yards from me, in full view, and stood there lonlt;r enough for me to have shot him, had I been so disposed. But he looked so splendid that I did not have the heart to do it. He was of a mouse color, apparently about three feet high, long and slender, with a head for all the world like a monstrous cat’s—a long, sweeping tail, which rested partly on the rock, while the end of it, curled upward, slowly waved hither and thither. He was eight or nine feet in length. Presently he leaped gracefully from the rock and bounded out of sight.” —Chicago Trib-Whatmagnificent and powerful beasts they were—so precisely liko lions that I could distinguish no important difference! They were tawny like the lion, but of a slightly lighter color, and, though with locks long enough, the heads of the males were less shaggy; the same big head and stiff ears; the same lordly and leonine aspect; the same long tail with the tuft at the end. Their roar no one could distinguish from that of the true lion. There were two males and three females—the latter
Newspaper Details
Rochester Independent
Rochester, Indiana, US
Wed, Apr 10, 1878
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Rin K.
NA, 15 Nov 2024
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