5 8 Leaves from an Indian Jungle. 



jutted into the sky. Further on, rising to a height of about 

 3, 500 feet, were the twin hill-tops of Jhakra, and under them 

 lay the precipice-girdled Mahadeo khora. It was here that 

 the panther had seized the woodcutter on the previous day. 

 At last we arrived at this ravine. The scene of the tra- 

 gedy was pointed out, and I crept quietly forward to recon- 

 noitre the spot. It was possible that the panther might still 

 be near his victim's body. 



The unfortunate man had been seized and strangled, with- 

 out so much as a cry escaping him, while engaged in chop- 

 ping male bamboos out of a small thicket of these plants,* and 

 his body appeared, by the tracks, to have been dragged along 

 the hillside into the bed of the steeply-falling ravine, and 

 then carried further up it. We now arrived at a place 

 over which pours a small cascade during the rainy season ; 

 and here the tracks ceased. I had ascended this ravine 

 once before, and was therefore able to make a guess at the 

 most likely place for the panther to lie up in. This was 

 a deep pocket in the smooth-worn rocks, over which hung 

 the roots of an old banyan tree that clung to the cliffside 

 higher up, sheltering a small pool of stagnant rain-water. 

 Wearing cotton-soled stalking boots as I was, there was 

 little difficulty in climbing up to this spot without a sound, 

 and slipping back the cartridges into the breech of my rifle, 

 I crawled forward and peered round the corner. 



The place was deserted ; and not a sound disturbed the 

 silence, except the rustle of some dried leaves as a small 

 brown squirrel ran up the rocks. The green scum on the 

 surface of the water had been disturbed, however, and the 

 rock at its edge had been freshly wetted. 



I was proceeding to examine this, when a stone fell from 

 the cliffs up-stream, and an exclamation from one of the 

 JCorkus caused me to glance up. A large panther was in the 



