32 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



THE LEOPARD 



Leopards are found all over Africa, from Algeria 

 to within a few miles of Cape Town ; in fact, of all 

 the felidae, they seem to be most widely distributed 

 throughout the continent of Asia and Africa. The 

 marking of the spots or " rosettes " varies some- 

 what in different countries, but, making allowances 

 for climatic and local variations, there is little real 

 distinction between the leopard of either part of 

 the world. In South Africa the leopard is known 

 almost universally by its Boer misnomer of tijger^ 

 and many people, hearing the tiger so commonly 

 spoken of throughout the country, and knowing 

 little of natural history, have come to the conclusion 

 that tigers proper really do exist in Africa. It is 

 singular that the Dutch colonists, while christening 

 the true leopard " tijger," always speak of the cheetah, 

 which is also found in Africa, as " luipaard." Among 

 native tribes the leopard is known by the Zulus, 

 Matabele, Swazis, and Matonga as Ngwe^ by the 

 Bechuanas and Basutos as Nkwe. In Swahili it is 

 called Chui, while the Somalis know it as Shabel. 



Although the lion has been driven by the advances 

 of civilisation from large portions of South Africa, 

 the leopard has managed to maintain itself without 

 much difficulty in almost every part of the country. 

 Even at the present time these animals are to be 

 found among the mountains about Stellenbosch, within 

 30 miles of Cape Town. Wherever it can find a 



