THE LEOPARD, 87 
an exciting Leopard-hunt, is taken from the As/am newspaper 
of August 25th, 1893. On the occasion in question, says the 
writer, he was sitting in his office, when there rushed in a 
party of Burmese, with the information that “about a mile 
‘away, close to a village, two men had been coming across the 
fields, when on passing through a small patch of jungle left as 
‘a hedge, one of them had been sprung on by a Leopard, and 
the other bad thereupon cut at the animal with his da una 
(chopper) and wounded it. The two men had themselves 
come ; they were scratched about, but not bitten or very badly 
hurt. I gave them a letter to the Doctor, and then issued in- 
vitations to those in the station whom I thought would like to 
share in the fun. These were McG., B., and J. It was hot, so 
we got steeds, and arrived on the scene. Open fields enclosed 
with thorn-hedges, where the hedges met patches of jungle 
which ran along here and there as a hedge—such was the spot 
where the villagers had been mauled. We sent the beaters 
round on to the other side, and posted ourselves, two on one 
side, two on the other, a thin thorn-hedge running from the 
jungle in question between us. The first beat in the jungle 
was unsuccessful, and as the villagers then came along beating 
the small thorn-hedge, in which one would not have great 
hopes of finding a hare, we thought there was no chance of 
finding our Leopard. The villagers thought so too, and came 
along shouting and jeering, poking about in a desultory sort of 
way, some getting brave under the circumstances. One ot 
these, on coming to a bit of bush in the hedge which made it 
look a little more likely, poked his head down and gave a jeer 
and a prog, and was considerably surprised to hear a reply in 
the shape of a roar, and still more so, I fancy, to find himself 
warmly embraced. All the beaters surrounded ‘Spots’ and laid 
into him vigorously in the most plucky but confused manner. 
Poor ‘Spots’ turned his attention from one to the other and 
