56 Leaves from an Indian Jungle. 



where their numbers are nearly equal, the spotted cat is 

 a greater connoisseur of human flesh than is his striped 

 congener. 



During the time that I was a resident of Junglypur there 

 was usually one man-eater at least at his fell work in the 

 Melghat and surrounding hilly districts, and he was pretty 

 certain to be a panther. A favourite ground for these opera- 

 tions was the low hilly country bordering the Tapti river, 

 whence the attack would be conducted, and toll taken in 

 the small Korku villages situated on the rich and cultivated 

 strips of alluvial land on its banks. One such man-killer 

 was credited with a bag of twenty-seven victims, including a 

 misguided native shikari, who sat up for him in a tree, but 

 was, in his turn, cleverly stalked. All that his friends 

 found of this unfortunate were the soles of his feet and a 

 coil of blood-stained hair. At last this dreaded marauder 

 was shot by a plucky little Korkuni as it was dragging her 

 husband out of his hut in a field at night. 



In the neighbourhood of a hill village named " Asalwara, " 

 not far from the old fort of Narnala, another man-eating 

 panther made his appearance ; and after eight grass-cutters 

 members of a gang who had come up from the plains to ply 

 their trade had been mysteriously made away with, he was 

 wounded by a brother-officer of mine and disappeared. 

 From this it was concluded that he had died of his wound. 

 However, man-killing began not long afterwards on the 

 banks of the Tapti once more. 



From my own observations I have formed a theory that, 

 unlike the tieer, who once a man-eater is often always a man- 

 eater, the panther, with his superior cunning, is not so in- 

 cautious as to enter on such a career in too exclusive a man- 

 ner. He probably exercises the greatest circumspection in 

 choosing his human victims, only taking advantage of them 



