78 WILD LIFE IN NORTH CANARA. 



same race as my friends the spearmen. 

 Wild animals find the deeper forests 

 unpleasant quarters in the monsoon 

 rains ; cloudy skies, frequent showers, 

 the perpetual drip from the trees, and 

 above all the persecution of the tiny 

 jungle leeches, drive them to the more 

 open glades, where they have the benefit 

 of occasional sunshine ; and at such 

 seasons they are at no great distance 

 from human habitations. Thus it 

 happened that the leopard in question 

 was found at daylight in the middle 

 of a small hamlet, trying to conceal 

 itself under the low, projecting eaves of 

 one of the huts. 



There were no fire-arms at hand, so 

 the young fellow who discovered the 

 leopard, folding his goat's-hair blanket 



