Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-06-29

| obtained glance at it. On approaching the
| bushes with caution, we caught a glimpse OF
| the beautiful spotted coat of the leopard and
at once fred at it. We believed we heard
the bullet strike, but could not see the results
so, reloading, We approached the spot where the
leopard had DISAPPEARED and looked out for some
sign. Scarcely had we stood still for moment
| when the leopard started up from almost under
our feet and with tremendous bound cleared
the bushes before him and disappeared among
| the thick underwood. We had not time even to
raise our gun, so the animal escaped that bull
let; but an examination of the ground and
leaves near where he had been, show that he
had been struck by the first shot, but probably
had been only slightly wounded, as it was
| evident the bullet had previously cut through
| a thickish branch, and SO had had its Velocity
stopped.
The leopard is most destructive animal 70
| poultry, pigs, and young cattle. Poultry and
| pigs it is very fond of; and when once it finds
its way into fowl house it kills all it can
| catch. One of our men at Natal, who kept
| fowls, had seventeen killed in one night by q
leopard, whilst a settler in Durham lost four
pigs in one week from similar enemy.
Along the coast at Natal there used to be q
| border of dense bush that was about two OF
three hundred yards in breadth and some miles
| in length. In this bush leopards were common,
and as we were frequently hunting there, we
had several opportunities of seeing them. On
| one occasion we were sitting down with party
ticed the footprints of a leopard on the sand,
| and we observed that these were quite fresh.
| Thinking it probable the leopard was near, we
| followed up the spoor, and found a place not
twenty yards from where we had been sitting,
| and which was undoubtedly the creatures den,
for there were bones of various animals, and
| some buck horns, and all the signs that indi-
| cate there that wild animal had remained for
| some time. Finding that the creature had Sc
| lected this place as its home, we visited it TWO
! AnHr ftnNt ,atI tbo al
| at home. 1t must have been asleep when We
| approached, for we were within thirty PAGES of
the den when it bounded off. not, however, be-
fore it had received one of our bullets through
| the body, which, although it might probably
| cause the animals death, did not instantly stop
| it. We found, however, that the leopard had
| entirely deserted its former haunt, and we suS-
| pected that it must have died from its wound. Z
When searching for buck in the thick bush,
| we one day heard buck scream at a short dis
| lance from u.s. and as this noise was indicative
| OF the animal being in danger, we suspected it
| might be caught by a python. We therefore
| made our way through the bush towards where
| the noise seemed to come from, and there we
| saw buck lying on the ground quite dead. On
| the back of the neck there were the marks of a
| leopard's teeth, and on the ground near we
| found two or three leopard's hairs showing that
| it was leopard that had killed the buck, and
| had escaped when it heard our approach. The
| buck was very fine red bush buck and we did
not hesitate to rob our rival, the leopard of the
spoil he had won, or decline to feast on it at that
| nights dinner.
| AS a rule, leopard will not attack a man,
unless it is driven to do so in self-deiouse, or is
| wounded; then, however, it becomes most fe-
/ rOcious monster, using its teeth and claws in
| such manner as to cause the most terrible
wounds. Its strength, too, is very great We
| once saw a colt about six months old that had
| been killed by leopard, and dragged a consid-
| cradle distance, and we also saw the carcass of
Zulu COW that leopard had destroyed. The
leopard always kills its prey by sprnging on it,
and Selling 1t at the back of the neck ; if posi-
BILE, it drags the head round and so dislOcates
the animals neck the hold that ii gets with its
claws and its great strength enable it to do this.
Thus, whilst its prey, which is usually a large
buck or antelope, young horse, OK, or COW, is
completely at It's mercy, the leopard fastened
on its back or neck, is quite out Of harms way.
LeopardS have great fancy for carrying off
d0gs-we have heard OF several dogs being
killed and carried off by leopards, whilst we
have seen several others that had received
scratches from leopardS from which they had
escaped.
When leopard takes up his residence in any
locality, he soon makes his presence known by
his depredations; he prowls about at night
round outhouses or kraalS, and, watching his
opportunity, carries oft calf or a pig, a dog or
half dozen fowls, and feastS on them in some
dense jungle, where it is almost impossible to
follow him.
Very early in our colonial experience we were
one of party who went in search of leopard
that had visited the same house three times in
week. on the first and last occasion it had killed
and carried off pig, whilst on the second occa-
sion 1t had enjoyed a feast on q couple of fowls
party of about dozen assembled at the house
of the owner OF the slain pigs, and having heard
an account of the daring of the leopard, were
conducted to the bush in which it was believed
the animal was lying concealed. The bush was
very thick, and to move through it one had to
crawl in many places, whilst in others one had
to scramble over branches and ropes of wild
vine. The noise thus made by dozen persons
was such that we at once were convinced no
leopard would wait for us, for the leopard is as
watchiul and as cautious as a wild cat and is
as difficult to surprise. After a troublesome
scramble through the bush we came on the re-
mains of the pig, very little being left; so the
leopard must have enjoyed a plentiful FEAST
but although the ground on which the animal
mad IAN was quite warm, yet it was nowhere to
| be seen, fact that was explained by u Catfre
who had come from the opposite side of the
| bush who stated that at about the time we
entered the bush the leopard with two cubs had
quietly trotted out on the other side, fand had
entered the dense forest beyond.
The plan to have secured the leopard would
have been to have surrounded the bush then to
have sent some dogs into the most likely
places, when the leopard would probably have
taken TO tree TO avoid the dogs, and thus would
have given TO the hunters a fair chance of a
shot. This plan we tried on another occasion,
and with success,
We had heard that a leopard was in the habit
OF visiting farmhouse a few miles from Dur
ban, and carrying off from it anything it could
procure. Having found by the trail of this
leopard that IL was very large one, we were
anxious to get a shot at it. Having found that
| the leopard had taken up its residence in the
| bush near the farm, we selected station on the
| Tar side, where we thought 1t most probable the
| creature would endeavor to escape and arranged
| that large party of CatfreS should enter the
bush from the opposite side to that at which we
| mad taken our station. As soon as the dew was
| off the grass and bushes one morning, we
laid our plans and took up our station No
| sooner did the Cattres enter the bush, than
the leopard, which was evidently on the look
| out, started from his lair and Sneaked through
the bush to the edge Of the plain where
| we were stationed; so quietly did he
approach, that we saw him before we
| heard him, although he was not further
| than thirty yards from us. AS we had taken
our station behind tree, well hidden from
| view, the leopard did not see u.s. 1t stood for
some time listening, then giving Disconnected
| cry, it moved towards us, lightly bounding over
| some bramDies that were in its way and quite
| unconscious OF our position Just as the ami
NAL was opposite us, and distant about fifteen
yards we fired. The leopard gave lurch, but
| instantly turned, and uttering savage smart
crouched as though about to spring at us. It
| was rather an exciting moment for we were
| within reach of the animals bound, and should
certainly have had a hand-to hand hight with
the wounded brute; luckily, however, it did not
spring instantly, and its hesitation was fatal, as
| we covered it, and lodged a bullet between the
| eyes, which turned it over dead.
We were shortly surrounded by the Caffres,
who, in their eagerness and delight, hurled
their assagieS into the carcass before we could
stop them, and thus considerably damaged the
beautiful skin, which, however, adorned the
hearth of the farm whence the leopard had SO
| frequently drawn his ratons.
| We once met Dutch farmer whose left hand
and arm were quite useless in consequence of
the wounds he had received from a leopard
the following was the account he gave of the
adventure;
A leopard had taken up its quarters in a large
ravine near this farmers house, and had killed
goat and a calf. As the animal was known
to be frequently pr0wling round the cattle kraal
and house, it was decided to assemble party
and hunt it, and so rid the neighbOrhood OF this
dangerous visitor. A party of ten or dozen
farmers and Hotentots, with several dogs, hay
ing assembled the koof in which the leopard
was known to live was drawn by the dogs,
whose savage barking soon showed that they
had brought the creature to bay. The party of
Ia Fill. .