294 LARGE GAME. CHAP. vi. 



it stood broadside to me, and broke both its shoulders 

 with the first shot, paralysing it. Its skin, which was 

 made into a gun-cover, was, I think, the most perfect I ever 

 saw, retaining all the softness and beauty of a cub's, com- 

 bined with the well-defined markings of a full-grown one. 



Perhaps the most common manner of finding leopards 

 is either when they have killed a sheep, a goat, or an 

 antelope, and the carcase is found and watched ; and in 

 this way I have killed several. The first one, which was 

 also the first I had ever seen, had broken into a kraal of 

 a farmer on the river Tugela, and had, without injuring 

 the carcases, killed nine sheep. I was staying at the time 

 at a farm-house on the opposite side of the river, and soon 

 after daylight on Christmas morning a mounted messenger 

 was sent across with the news, and to ask me if I would 

 come over, as the brute was to be followed up at once. 

 Of course, I delayed no longer than was necessary to get 

 my gun and ammunition and to saddle my horse, and on 

 arriving at the farm I found a strong body of natives 

 headed by a Christian Kaffir with a gun, and two young 

 Dutchmen from a neighbouring farm. The owner of the 

 sheep was not himself going out, being in delicate health, 

 but in his place he sent two noble Boer-hounds, great 

 yellow animals as big as a young calf, besides which a 

 whole pack of curs of every cross accompanied the natives, 

 which, like their masters, disappeared as if by magic when 

 we approached the leopard, and they discovered what 

 they were after. 



Our way lay up a broken kloof or glen, down which a 

 small stream ran, and which was covered with dwarf 

 thorns, aloes, and rank grass growing amongst great 



