THE STORY OF THE LEOPARD. 



309 



Even in this case the disposition of the creature must be naturally good, or 

 it remains proof against kindness and attention, never losing a surliness of 

 temper that makes its liberation too perilous an experiment. The very same 

 treatment by the same people will have a marvelously different efifect on two 

 different animals, though they be of the same species, or even the offspring 

 of the same parents. 



The snow-leopard inhabits the elevated regions of Central Asia. In 

 Ladak it does not descend below the level of some nine thousand feet above 



A PAIR OF CHITAS OR HUNTING LEOPARDS. 



the sea-level in winter, while in summer it ranges to a height of eighteen 

 thousand feet and upwards. Its long and thick fur is specially adapted to 

 protect the animal against the severe winter cold of the regions it inhabits. 

 The beauty of the fur of a snow-leopard killed during the winter is unri- 

 valed. The animal is probably found all over Thibet, but how far to the 

 westward of Gilgit it extends is at present unknown. It has, indeed, been 

 reported from Persia and Armenia. 



Our knowledge of the habits of the snow-leopard is at present but lim- 

 ited, since comparatively few have seen the animal in its wild state. From 



