Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1875 — A Mexican Reminiscence. [ARTICLE]

A Mexican Reminiscence.

We see that a jaguar has been killed in Lower Louisiana. The jaguar, or fells onca, is animal in the present limits of the (united States, though formerly met with in Texas and occasionally in Louisiana. It is one of the most beautitul of the cat tribe and is much larger and more powerful than the panther or cougar. Its skin is spotted something like the leopard, only with larger and darker diamonds and circles of black ground. The jaguar is not so long and weasel-shaped as the panther but is more like the Asiatic tiger and is the congener and American representative of the tiger, fully equaling him in size and strength. The favorite food of the jaguar was the mustangs, or wild horses, which roamed over the prairies of Lower and Western Texas. It laid in wait for them at their drinking holes and creek and river fords, and pulled down old and young. Fullgrown horses and oxen are carried off bodily by it in Mexico and Central America. Gen. Houston had, on the San Marco, one night while in camp, one of his largest horses killed, dragged off and eaten to a skeleton by a jaguar. Their beautiful skins, as well as those of the tiger-cat, are great prizes with the Texas rangers and herdsmen as saddlecovers and cloths. In Mexico and Central America they are very common. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is badly infested with them, and during the Mexican war our soldiera_ftequently encountered them. We remember most adventure which befell us ip 1846 at Lomita, on the Rio Grande. We were a soldier in the First Tennessee Volunteers, and had not long landed in Mexico. The Louisiana threemonths’ volunteers were a few miles below us, at Burita, where they had several night alarms, from which serious accidents had occurred. As it was thought that squads of Mexican cavalry or guerillas might perhaps attempt to attack isolated encampments, it was ordered, under penalty of death, that outposts should be very careful and not fire a gun unless an enemy were positively on hand. It was a bright July night when we were alone on guard, far out in the chaparral and prickly pears, distant from any other post, owing to the impracticability of stationing pickets at short intervals. We were in a little glade about sixty feet square, surrounded by low mesquite bushes, with their crookea, horn-like, can’t-geTaway thorns, and by an almost impenetrable mass of night-blooming Cactuses, which loaded the air with a most delicate and delicious perfume. It was past midnight and the moon was at its full in a cloudless sky, giving a flood of light such as only those who have been in or near the tropics can conceive. The loud, prolonged whirr of a night locust, or cicada, rang out on the night air; the barking bird, swiftly wheeling here and thereover the chaparral, sounded like a flying dog oyerhead; the plaintive wail of the Mexican nighthawk seemed like moaning spirits in the air, while far and near the sharp, yelping howl of the coyotes, or small wolves, told how wild the country was. Standing, silent and still as a statue, in the midst of the little, clear space, and watching three points from which three paths lea out of the glade, we were led by the situation and the„surroundings, with the magnificent glory of the night, into a dreamy reverie, when we were suddenly aroused by a slight rustle in the chaparral behind us, and a subdued purring whine, or suppressed growl. Turning quickly, with bayonet at charge, gun cocked, we saw within fifteen feet of us a powerful i spotted animal, crouched to the‘earth. The 1 moon was shining full in its face, and its i head was broad and massive, and its two eyes glowed like burnished gold. Its head was slightly raised, while its tail was slowlv waving to and fro. It was evident that it was about to spring when wq so suddenly turned upon it. We ha<f->ncountered wolves and wild-cats, but neter had we seen in the wild state an animal of this size and-kind. Our knowledge of natural history left no doubt as to i what animal it was, but it was so much I larger than thia icaged jaguars we had I seen that we almostlhought it a tiger. •It ! took but a thought to realize the situation; j there we were, 600 yards from the nearest I sentinel, a slender, sickly boy, alone in I the chaparral and prickly pears, no

chance to retreat except by three tortuous, thorny paths, with an old flint-lock musket, so wet with heavy dew that it might flash iu the pan; under orders, with penalty of death, not to fire unless at a hostile Mexican; and yet there, within fifteen feet of us, was the fiercest and most powerful of all American animals, crouching tor a spring; an enemy, it was true, but not the one we were watching for. It remained perfectly still, except its tail, and looked us square in the eyes; instinctively we raised the musket to an aim, the finger was pulling on the stiff trigger, when we reflected what might be the consequence in camp if we discharged our gun; a sense of duty checked us.'and slowly the gun was brought to a charge; the movement caused the beast to falter; it began gently to raise itself and crawl backward; we followed this up with a lunge with the bayonet, when it leaped up and plunged into tlie chaparral with a loud scream. In a few minutes the officer of the picket, having heard the scream, came up to inquire what it meant, and on being told remained a short time and then left, repeating his instructions not to fire. Picking our flint, and putting in fresh priming, we waited, but not expecting the brute to return. Hardly had the Lieutenant’s footsteps ceased to sound as he went away before the jaguar again made his appearance in another quarter,, where it had the moonlight full in our face; it moved back and forth in short half circles, keeping its head toward us, coming nearer and neareseach time, until*within twelve or fifteen feet, when it again crouched, and as it did so at it we dashed with the bayonet, but quick as thought it sprang high iirthe air and into the thicket, with another wild scream. Three times more the persevering brute repeated these visits, until at the last the bayonet grazed its skin, and the officer of the guard, coming with the relief just then, alarmed it so that it troubled the pickets no more. We had our full share of the jagqar, and prefer to see his skin on a ranger’s saddle to meeting the original beast in any place. - We shall never forget that midnight interview, nor the strain upon our nerves, and still regret that as a green soldier we allowed a sense of duty to prevent iis from putting a musket ball and three buckshot into the heart of the stranger who was so anxious to cultivate our acquaintance on that occasion.— New Orleans Co-operative News.