vii CHETAH CUBS FOUND 129 



by my friends and myself were both fine specimens 

 of their kind, in good condition and apparently in 

 the prime of life, and why they did not run away 

 from our horses and so save t^eir skins, if they were 

 able to do so, is more than I can understand. 



Personally, I know very little as to the life- 

 history of chetahs, and I doubt if any one else does, 

 as they are very rarely encountered. I once saw 

 six of these animals together near the town of 

 Salisbury, in Mashunaland. The teeth of the chetah 

 are very small and weak compared with those of 

 the leopard, hyaena, or wild dog, and its semi- 

 retractile claws not very sharp, so I should imagine 

 that its chief prey would be the smaller species of 

 antelopes. 



When the pioneer expedition to Mashunaland 

 was crossing the high plateau near the source of 

 the Sabi river, in 1890, one of the troopers of the 

 British South Africa Police Force, who was riding 

 along parallel with and not far from the line of 

 waggons, came on three chetah cubs lying in the 

 grass, and brought them to me. They could only 

 have been a few days old, as their eyes were not yet 

 open. I do not know what became of those chetah 

 cubs, as my duties as guide and chief intelligence 

 officer of the pioneer force made it impossible for 

 me to attend to them ; but I believe they were 

 suckled by a bitch and lived for some time. 



