110 JOURNAL. BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 1891. 



which could be and was completely hemmed hi. Slowly and continually they 

 descended, throwing stones until they actually reached the very bottom, and 

 from their very feet up sprang the miserable creature, and still refusing the 

 opening left to it, ran up the hill, and crossed the firer at a distance of 1'50 

 paces, as fast as it could go, offering a very difficult and uncertain shot. It 

 had however to be accepted, as little of daylight remained, and fortunately 

 the aim proved true, the bullet striking the neck, and turning it head over 

 heels. A shout of joy burst forth from all, and the body was soon slung across 

 a xiole, and taken with acclamation to the village at which the tents were 

 pitched. I was much struck by the resemblanca of one of their exclamations 

 to that mentioned by Meadows Taylor in the "Story of My Life." Eepeatedly 

 they shouted "Davies saheb ki jae." In passing through the village, the 

 women turned out, each with a brass dish, furnished with a small lighted wick, 

 red powder, and two pice. The first was waved over the dead animal, a pinch 

 of the second affixed to its forehead, as also to that of the bystanders, and the 

 third was given to one of the beaters. This ceremony was intended to lay the 

 spirit of the deceased and to prevent its molesting them even after death. I 

 had to decline with thanks the honor of my own forehead being painted with 

 red powder. A post-mortem carefully made led to the finding of the 

 accompanying three fingers of the unfortunate lad, who met his death in such 

 a sudden and tragic manner. The discovery proved, beyond all doubt, that 

 the slaughtered animal was the one we determined to get rid off, and avenge 

 the bereaved mother, to whom, however, it was but a poor satisfaction, for 

 nothing could console her for the loss of one so dear to her heart, and to whom 

 she looked as the mainstay of her old age. It was the general opinion of 

 these present that had the end not come as soon as it did, other victims by 

 the score would have fallen to gratify an abnormal and an increasing appetite 

 for human flesh. Already it had killed two persons, and severely mauled a 

 third, within a period of two months. The panther had a very good coat 

 was a female, and in milk, and it seemed as if it had taken to kill human 

 beings to supply its young ones with tender meat. The cubs we did not come 

 across, and hope they were too young to walk, and have perished by 

 starvation. 



The theory above suggested, as to why the animal became a man-eater, is a 

 new one, but is not without good reason. 



It was noticed that the dogs of the villages within a 4 mile radius were 

 frequently carried away, and when the supply diminished, a baby fell the first 

 virtim — the door happening to be left open offered an opportunity which was 

 not lost; then followed an attack on an elderly woman; and lastly the boy, 

 who tonus the subject of this narrative. 



Basim, Berars, C. A. W. DAVIES, 



2JS/th March, 1891. i ,/,/. Deputy Commissioned. 



