LEOPARDS AND CHEETAHS 



man who had lost not less than two children in this way: 

 One of them, a little girl of perhaps four to five years of 

 age, had been taken away by the leopard in broad daylight 

 and but a few yards from the hut, in which the little one's 

 mother had gone the moment before to prepare some food. 

 As she heard the screams of her baby, she rushed out, only 

 to see the leopard dart into the bush with her little girl 

 between his jaws, disappearing so quickly that no trace 

 was ever found of the unfortunate baby. One cannot won- 

 der very much at this audacity of the leopard, when the 

 fact is known that the Kikuju people never bury their 

 dead, but throw them out in the nearest bush, to be de- 

 voured by leopards, lions, and hyenas. But worse than 

 that, not only do these cruel savages throw out their dead 

 in this way, but they also do the same with old, sick people, 

 who they think will not recover. In such cases the old 

 men or women are led or carried out into the thorn bush, 

 and there often tied and left to be killed and devoured by 

 these bloodthirsty, nocturnal animals. Several authentic 

 cases of this cruel treatment came to my knowledge during 

 my stay in East Africa. 



Being so often bothered and harassed by leopards, both 

 settlers and natives try all sorts of schemes to get rid of 

 them ; by shooting, by poisoning, and by trapping them in 

 various ways. The leopard is very rarely seen in the day- 

 time, and he is therefore seldom shot by any man, white or 

 black, for it is a rare chance if the sportsman, in his wan- 

 derings, comes across one of these graceful and cunning 

 animals. It is sometimes possible, however, to put up a 

 leopard in a " donga " — a river bed, on the sides of which 

 there are thick patches of trees and bushes — m which both 



117 



