THE HUNTING LEOPARD J ^ 



ings, these worthies regularly employed it as a 

 kind of quadrupedal falcon. An Ethiopian carry- 

 ing a log of precious wood and leading in leash 

 an unmistakable cheetah has even been found 

 figured on a tomb in Thebes ;^ but it was Hashing, 

 King of Persia, who, in B.C. 865, first specially bred 

 dogs and leopards for the chase. Yezid, Caliph of 

 Damascus, in yV.D. 680 introduced into this sport the 

 risky practice of carrying a "tame" hunting leopard 

 on a pillion behind the hunter ; an excellent experi- 

 ment, doubtless, for other folks to try. Akbar the 

 Great, Emperor of Hindustan from 1556 to 1605, 

 must have eclipsed all previous records if, as is 

 stated, he really used to take the field with a 

 thousand hunting leopards ! The relative rarity of 

 the cheetah to-day makes one question this story, 

 however enthusiastic and powerful a Nimrod Akbar 

 may have been. The sport still survives in India, 

 the Gaekwar of Baroda and other princes maintaining 

 studs of cheetah for hunting black buck. 



It may not be generally known that in Europe 

 also the practice of coursing game with hunting 

 leopards existed for several centuries, Frederick II. 

 of Sicily (already mentioned as the brother-in-law of 

 Henry III.) having introduced the practice. The 

 F"rench kings kept cheetah in an enclosure in the 

 Castle of Amboise, and both Charles VIII. and 



1 Oil tlie toinh of Rekhinana at Tliel)es is figured a procession of 

 slaves briiiginj; gifts to Egypt. One of tliese, mIio carries a fan and a 

 basket of fruit, also holds in leasii a elieetali, long-legged and small- 

 spotted ; two green monkeys and an ibex also figure in tfie procession. 



