History of All Animals 137

It is a hot-tempered animal. Hunters climb to the tops of trees, and a herd of Zainos rushes forward, biting the tree trunk since they cannot wound the man; meanwhile, the hunter, safe from above, strikes them down with a hunting spear.

There is a remarkable antipathy between this beast and the Tiger; therefore, they appoint a leader, and this leader of the Zainos summons as many of his kind as possible—three hundred or more—much like a general assembling soldiers. With these forces, they attack the Tiger, which, although it is the most ferocious beast among the other American wild animals, is nonetheless overcome by their numbers, though not without a great slaughter of the Zainos, for countless numbers have been found dead alongside the Tiger.

The meat is similar to pork or wild boar, but tougher and less pleasant. The bristles are coarse, variegated with black and white. It feeds on acorns, roots, and other mountain fruits, as well as grubs, earthworms, and other creatures of this sort that are produced in marshy places. For the reader's benefit, an illustration of the skeleton of a common piglet has been included.

# ON LIONS

From the cloven-hoofed animals, we must now pass to the four-footed beasts with toes. Among the Indians of the New World, the breed of lions is more cowardly; the Peruvians call them Pumas. They are smaller than African lions, prone to flight, and harmless unless first provoked. They are entirely inferior in spirit, size, mane, and color, being dusky rather than tawny. To hunt them, the Indians gather together and kill them with stones and clubs, afterwards eating their meat, which is white and thick. They reserve the fat for medicines and use the bones for their dances and festivals.

In Chiapas, there is an animal similar to a harrier, black except for the head and neck, which are white; nevertheless, the Indians call it the "White Lion."

Furthermore, there are other wild beasts related to the lion, such as the *Miztli*, as the natives call it, a relative of our maneless lion. When it is still small, it is dusky, but as it grows, it becomes tawny, and sometimes reddish or whitish, which may occur due to the diverse nature of the region.

Likewise, the *Quauztli* is a beast akin to the lion, from which it takes its name, though it is gentler and more agile; because of this, some Spaniards have thought it to be a panther.

To these varieties also belongs the *Machamitzli* beast, which takes its name from the deer and the lion, resembling those animals in various parts of its body. Indeed, the *Cuitlamiztli*, with a native name borrowed from the lion and the wolf, also belongs here. It is a beast thicker than a lion, yet gentler and smaller. It lives by hunting deer and sheep; indeed, even when full, it kills whatever animals it encounters. Once it has sated its hunger, it sleeps for two or three days, abstaining from prey until it is hungry again.

Additionally, there is the *Tlalmiztli*, smaller than a cat but with a lion-like face; the animal's expression and ferocity are remarkable in such a small body. Another animal is called the *Cacamiztli*, which belongs to the genus of small lions or cats and usually frequents reedbeds. It is a quadruped with a body four spans long but not very wide, with tawny and somewhat long fur, and short—almost non-existent—ears. It has a cat-like head and a long, shaggy tail. The beast is so fierce that it often attacks and even kills deer, from which it perhaps earned its name, unless the name actually comes from the word for cat. For among the Mexicans, *Miztli* sometimes means a cat and sometimes a lion. This animal lives among the Panuco people.