The Leopard and Panther 145 



ther's character the truth is that, in the way stated, no re- 

 spect for mankind is discoverable in his conduct. It is 

 indeed notoriously otherwise ; and this is nowhere more 

 clearly shown than in the records of observations made by 

 men who were convinced that all species of wild beasts 

 instinctively feared them. " The Old Shekarry " (Major 

 Leveson) writes ( " Hunting-Grounds of the Old World " ) 

 to this effect : " Panthers, like all forest creatures . . . are 

 afraid of man, never voluntarily intruding upon his pres- 

 ence, and invariably beating a retreat if they can do so un- 

 molested." Then this authority goes on to tell what he 

 has learned about panthers in the course of an experience 

 rarely equalled for extent and variety. They are " more 

 courageous than the tiger. . . . The panther often attacks 

 men without provocation." When one "takes to cattle- 

 lifting or man-eating he is a more terrible scourge than a 

 tiger, insomuch as he is more daring and cunning." He 

 relates how this timid 'creature that never voluntarily ob- 

 trudes himself upon human presence, fights hunters on all 

 occasions ; how the beast broke into his own camps, carried 

 off dogs that were tied to his tent pole, and much more to 

 the same effect. 



There is no difficulty in finding exploits of the same 

 kind ; Rice, Inglis, Forsyth, Barras, Shakespear, Pollok, 

 Baker, Colonel Walter Campbell, who saw the man riding 

 next him in a party of horsemen, torn out of his saddle, 

 or Colonel Davidson moving with a column of troops 

 around whose encampments the sentinels had to be 

 doubled to prevent panthers from killing them, all tell the 

 same story. 



