VARIOUS GAME 87 



Owing to the amount of dry leaves about, I made 

 sure I would easily hear any animal on the move, 

 but kept a careful look out. Suddenly, before 

 sunset, without a sound to warn me of the ap- 

 proach, I saw a panther close up to the kill ; 

 how it stepped over the leaves so silently was a 

 marvel, but there was the brute within shot, and 

 I did not take long to get a line on to it, and 

 number one was mine — a female. 



I left the cow there, telling the Sholagas that 

 they must report at once if anything came. For 

 three days the carcase was unmolested, but on 

 the 14th it was reported that the body had been 

 visited during the night, so off I started again. 

 I think there is nothing more sickening than 

 having to sit over a kill that has been dead some 

 days; the stench is awful. Anyway, another 

 female panther was added to the list. On the 

 17th one got off wounded, and on the 19th the 

 third fell to my rifle — this time a male and of fair 

 size, measuring from tip of tail to nose 7 feet. 



On the 15th of April I went down to the low 

 country (Naad) for a few days' shoot, and took 

 with me a 12-bore rifle, which a planter, who was 

 great on Meade's shells {i.e. explosive bullets), had 

 lent me in exchange for my own rifle, as he 

 wanted to try the accuracy of my -450 and 

 Lyman's sight. It was a bad day for me that I 

 exchanged rifles and, worse still, used Meade's 

 shells, which are, I think, much too light to pene- 

 trate if any great resisting object is met. When 

 I reached my camp, a local native told me that a 

 tiger had seized a cow, and, from the tracks at a 

 pool of water, it looked as if two tigers had been 



