Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-08-29
Leopard-HuntinE.
From Longman's Magazine


The leopard is, in my opinion, rather a
| vulgar animal. 1t is vulgar In two senses.
1t is very common In many psrts of Asia
| and Africa, and Its general habits are low,
cowardly and sneaking. Its redeemipg
quality Is that II hes considerable beauty
of form and fur. So, for that matter, has
almost every one Of the cat tribs. During
long residence in India became toIera-
bly, familiar with leopards. 1 once kept
two little cubs about three months old,
but when in my experisnce l had them
washed with soap and water TO get rid of
their heas, they resented the insult and
died. never really liked leopsrds. Ar.
Wood, the naturalist, describes them as
creatures of almost inoffensive habits, but
enemies to poultry and fatal to fowls. On
the other hand have recently seen an ac
count in an Indian psper of leopard that
killed In the course of eighteen months
more than one hundred and 6fty human
beings. Such murderous beast never
came within my oognizancs, though / fear
that the story was true.
When l was an assistant magistrate st
Chittagong, of the mature age of twenty
one, my friend Captain Swstman, who
was In charge of the elephant kheddas,
tried hard to introduce me to leopard.
There were some little hills covered with
bushes and grass, just behind the canton
ments, or military lines, where the native
Sepoy regiment dwelt. The neighboring
villagers used to turn out their cattle to
Craze on these hills, aud from time to time
some predatory animal, either a tiger or a
leopard, would kill one of the COWS or
cslves. The owner of the slsin animal
would rush off to tell Captain Svatmsn of
his loss, and Swstman Immediately or
dered out some OF HE elephants, and kind
ly sent of an elephant and howdah to my
house or Office to fetch me. If wac in
Office the business of the dey was adjourned
to the morrow. and l went of with my
guns TO meet Swa.msn az the edge of the
Jungle on the hilla How hard we used
| to work in the hot Sun TO try and fird the
tiger or the leopard! But our taotics were
not very brilliant, for frat we had TO hnd
the body of the COW or calf, In order to
ascertain from It's wounds whether the az
ssilant had been a tiger or a leopard.
While we we're disturbing the jungle the
| leopard land the marks were usually those
| of Jeopardy stole away and bid itself in
the rsvines between the H.tls hills; or 1t
| may be that it went right away to thicker
cover on the larger hilis, about half mile
| distant. OF course, as we hunted about
| among the busAes there would be frequent
falee alarms that the leopard had been
seen. One day young mahout, anxious
| to distinguish himself for zeal, cried out
that he hsd seen a large red animal ths.
must be tiger. 1t turned out to be an
old red COW that had no fear of O leopard,
and had not left the Jungle. AS for my
Pelf, am sure that l nsver saw even the
| tip of the leopsrd's tail. But we went out
| again aud again, almost once a week, in
| the vain hope that our Lahore would be re-
warded. At last the end came about in
this way. The Sepoys managed one morn
| ing to out off the leopard from the Jungle,
and to surround It, and attack Il with their
| iron bound bamboo clubs; these clubs are
very formidable weapons, and, though in
tended chiefly for domestic use, In fight
| ing among themselves or with their neigh
bora, in disputes about land or women, a
blow from one of them on g leopard's
| head or loins would be aimoBt certain 10
disable or kill the bssst. At all events the
Sepoys killed the leopard, and for thst
year al end was put to our small hunting
| expeditions with ,he elephants.
| As a rule, a man does not 90 ont Loop
ard shooting as he coca snIps-shcoting or
tiger shooting. Usually tbe news is
native that a leopard had entered hi-
premises, and, after killing child or a
goat, OF fowl. has hid itself in some shed
\ or outhouse. On such an appsel it is usu-
| al to go out to Try and kill that leopard.
If q companion can be found Is is bstter
| for Two men to 90 tcsethe. than for one
man to 60 alone With only native follow
era. Almost the fret case that / rsmem-
Der to which we were called We found that
the leopard wss ensconced In . mat and
| thstch cow-shsd, of which the door bad
been closed on him. We rather raehly
opened the door in order to peep In.
There was q rush and q scufia ss the lsup.
ard tore the door open wider and jumped
| ont to eecApe. We were ucky in rot be-
| ing knocked down or even scratched Bat
the leopard did not get right away. 1t
| foOlishly entered another shed, which was
promptly closed on him, snd We lad to
begin again. Ny companion climbed on
| to the roof with hi. gun, and sn ect.vs Ms
tive got up with him 10 tear open hole in
ths thatcn of the roof. / stood on the
ground with a clear space before me, in
case the leopard should turn out in my d.
rection. The eagor crowd of nsiIvee, who
had come, regardless of danger, was in
duced to retire to q distance, while the
most nimble of them climbed up into
trees or on to the roofs of the adjacent
huts. It takes longer to write this than to
| give an idea of what actually happened.
/ ne uehbo "uO was NeArlnR mole In the
| thatch OF the shed hsd rashly tried to
look in to see where the leopard Was In
q moment the leopard sprang at him, and
Its head appeared through the thxtch Ny
companion put his gun 10 the beasts head
and cent bullst through its brain 30 that
1t dropped dead into the hut. But there
were loud cries from the native on the
roof, for the bullet, after passing through
the leopard's skull, had grsZsd the mans
body, go that he was bleeding profussly
and crying out that he was killed. He
was quickly brought down from the roof
of the shed, and his wound was washed,
and found to be little more than skin deep.
A present of few rupees soon oonforted
him, and he became, not undsseIvedly, the
hero of the day among his fellow villagers.
The csroase of the leopsrd was slung from
@ bamboo and brought to our house, and
the skin becsme the property of my COM
panion.