The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1894-02-10
HUNTING WITH THE cHCTAH.
An Indian Sport Mere Than Two
Thousand Years Old.


The Century contains an article on
Hunting with the Chetah," a sport
which has been known for more than
1000 years. Ii is still sometimes
practised i'm India.
The chetah, commonly known as
the hunting leopard, is taken, bound
in a wagon, to the scene of the sport,
When his prey is sighted and the
wagon has been brought sufficiently
near, the animal is loosed from his
bonds. The following is an extract
from the Century article;
In n 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 Mt 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
n second Ii was unfastened, there was
n yellow streak in the air, and the
chetah was %crouching low some yards
away. In this position, and taking
advantage Of "A certain ~unevenness OF
the ground which gave him cover, he
stealthily crept forward toward \
buck that was feeding some distance
away from the others. Suddenly this
antelope saw or scented his enemy,
for he was of like the wind. He was,
however, too late; the chetah had
been too quick for him. All there
was TO be seen was a flash, rs the SUI
preme rush was made. This move
ment Of the chetah is said TO be, for
the time it lasts, the quickest thing
in the animal world, far surprising
the speed of n race-horse. Certainly
IL surprised all Of us, who were in
tently watching the details 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
of Immediately from his line, into
running round in n circle, with the
chetah on the outside.
The tongas were galloped up, and
the excitement Of the occupants can
hardly be described. In my eager
ness TO see the finish, | jumped of
and took TO running, but the hunt
was oon over, for before | could get
quite up, the chetah got close to the
buck, and with n spring Mt his
launches, brought him to the ground.
The leopard then suddenly released
his hold, and sprang ut his victims
throat. throwing his prey over on its
back, where IL was held when we ar
rived at the spot. The chctah was
then C%fouching low, sucking the blood
from the jugular vein, while tenac-
iously clinging with his mouth TO the
antclope's throat. The buck gave
only II few spasmodic jerks and APP
peared TO be dead, though probably
not SO in reality, but only paralyzed
by fear. One Of the men stopped
down and plunged n knife into the
bucks neck close 10 the spot where
the chctah still held fast. This coup
de grace not only terminated the poor
things existence, but caused the
blood TO flow freely, which m
Of the men proceeded TO catch in
II large wooden bowl with n long
handle, that ho had brought for the
purpose. When this was full, the
hood was thrust over the chetah's
eyes, his letters were replaced, and
he was ultimately induced to let go
his hold Of the antelope by the bowl
Of steaming hot blood being slipped
under his nose. Into this dainty re-
ward for his trouble he at once
plunged his head, and with ferocious
eagerness Tapped up the whole OF IL.