-* Leopards 



spattered a proof of how close the animal had been. 

 A tew minutes later I came upon the leopard again, 

 and this time a well-placed bullet did for him. But 

 I attribute this to good luck rather than to my own 

 skill. 



Such attacks by leopards may easily terminate fatally. 

 Mr. Hall, my host in Fort Smith at Kikuyu, related to 

 me, among other stories, the evening before I shot my 

 three lions in that vicinity, that whilst hunting antelopes 

 near the Xayasha Lake he met with a mishap because 

 he had incautiously shot at a " chui." He was only 

 convalescent at the time, in fact just risen from a sick- 

 bed (after an unlucky encounter with a rhinoceros), 

 and was hunting again for the first time, accompanied 

 by an Askari, when he went after some impallas. A 

 leopard had the same end in view, but was speedily shot 

 at by Mr. Hall. Quick as lightning the beast sprang on 

 the hunter and hugged him tight ; undoubtedly the leopard 

 would have killed him, had not the Askari shot the 

 animal while actually on his master. Mr. Hall was 

 injured for a very long time and was permanently lamed, 

 the sinews of one leg being torn. 



On two other occasions I have been attacked by 

 wounded leopards, but happily I was able to kill the 

 enraged beasts in time. I can only advise the greatest 

 caution when hunting these animals. The natives declare 

 that leopards have a pronounced taste for human flesh, 

 like the man-eating tigers of India. I have not been 

 able to obtain positive evidence of the truth of this, 

 but I will not deny that certain old leopards distinguish 



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