Page:A narrative of travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro.djvu/357

 THE AMAZON DISTRICT 317

would begin to move towards the water, when the onca would spring upon it, and again commence eating at the tail, during which time the alligator lay perfectly still. We had been observing a cat playing with a lizard, both behaving in exactly the same manner, the lizard only attempting to move when the cat for a moment left it ; the cat would then immediately spring upon it again : and my informant assured me that he had seen the jaguar treating the alligator in exactly the same way.

The onca is particularly fond of dogs, and will carry them off in preference to any other animal. When one has been committing any depredations, it is a common thing to tie a dog to a tree at night, the howling of which attracts the onca, which comes to seize it, and is then shot by a person concealed for the purpose.

It is a general belief among the Indians and the white inhabitants of Brazil, that the onga has the power of fascination. Many accounts are given to prove this ; among others, a person informed me, that he had seen an onca standing at the foot of a high tree, looking up into it: on the top was a guariba, or howling-monkey, looking down at the onca, and jumping about from side to side, crying piteously; the onca stood still ; the monkey continued descending lower and lower on the branches, still uttering its cries, till at length it fell down at the very feet of the onca, which seized and devoured it. Many incidents of this kind are related by persons who have witnessed them ; but whether they are exaggerated, or are altogether imaginary, it is difficult to decide. The belief in them, by persons best acquainted with the habits of the animal, is universal.

Of the smaller Tiger-cats, there are several kinds, but having lost my collection of skins, I cannot ascertain the species. The Puma is considered much less fierce than the jaguar, and is very little feared by the inhabitants. There are several varieties of the jaguar, distinguished by the Indians by different names. The black variety is rarer than the others, and is generally thought to be quite distinct ; in some localities it is unknown, while in others it is as abundant as the ocellated variety.

Many small rodent animals — squirrels, rats, etc.— complete the terrestrial mammalia of the Amazon district.