The Washington bee., 1894-03-10
HUNTING WITH THE cHETAH.

How the Popular Sport of India is
Conducted.
The February Century" contains
an article on Hunting with the Che
tah,' sport which has been known
for more than 1900 years. It is still
sometimes practised in India.
The chetah, commonly known as
the hunting leopard, is taken, bound
and in a wagon, to the scene of the
sport. When his prey is sighted and
the wagon has been brought sufficient
ly near, the animal is loosed from his
bonds. The following is an extract
from the Century" article:
In a few minutes, that to our anx-
ious minds seemed interminable, we
managed to diminish the distance to
the requisite point, and again the
straps were liberated. The hood was
then slipped from the chetah's head.
He saw the animals at once; his body
quivered all over with excitement, the
tail Strengthened and the hackles on
his shoulders stood erect, while his
eyes cleaned and he strained at the
cord, which was held short. In
second it was unfastened, there was a
yellow streak in the air, and the che
tab was crouching low some yards
away. In this position, and taking ad-
vantage Of a certain unevenness Of
the ground, which gave him cover, he
sealthily crept forward toward a buck
that was feeding some distance away
from the others. Suddenly this ante
lope saw or scented his enemy, for he
was off like the wind. He was, how
IQtos
quick for him. Al there was to be seen
was a flash, as the supreme rush was
made. This movement of the chetah
is said to be, for the time it lasts, the
quickest thing in the animal world,
far surprising the speed of a race
horse. Certainly it surprised all of us,
who were intently watching the de-
tails Of the scene being enacted in our
view. The pace was so marvelously
great that the chetah actually sprang
past the buck, although by this time the
terrified animal was fairly stretched
out at panic speed. This overshooting
the mark by the chetah had the effect
Of driving the antelope, which swerved
off Immediately from his line, into rum
ming round In a circle, with the chetah
on the outside
The tongas were galloped up, and
the excitement of the occupants can
hardly be described. In my eagerness
to see the finish, jumped off and took
to running, but the hunt was soon
over, for before l could get quite up,
the chetah got close to the buck, and
with a spring at his launches, brought
him to the ground The leopard then
suddenly released his hold, and sprang
at his victims throat, throwing his
prey over on it's back, where it was
held when we arrived at the spot The
chetah was then crouching low, suck
ing the blood from the jugular vein,
while tenaciously clinging with his
mouth to the antelope's throat The
buck gave only a few spasmodic jerks
and appeared to be dead, although
paralyZed by fear. Inc Of the men
stopped down and plunged knife in
to the bucks neck close to the spot
where the chetah still held fact. This
coup de grace not only terminated the
poor things existence, but caused the
blood to flow freely, which one of the
men proceeded to catch in a large
wooden bowl with a long handle, that
he had brought for the purpose. When
this was full, the hood was thrust over
the chetah's eyes, his fetters were re-
placed, and he was ultimately induced
to let 60 his hold of the antelope by
the bowl Of steaming hot blood being
slipped under his nose. Into this dain-
ty reward for his trouble he at once
plunged his head, and with ferocious
eagerness Tapped up the whole Of it.