322 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



can transform myself into any shape. I will now become a 

 panther, and remove this obstacle from the road, and on my 

 return you must place this powder in my mouth, when I will 

 recover my proper shape/' He then swallowed his own 

 portion of the magic powder, and assuming the likeness of 

 the panther, persuaded him to leave the path. Eeturning to 

 the woman, he opened his mouth to receive the transposing 

 charm ; but she, terrified by his dreadful appearance and open 

 jaws, dropped it in the mire, and it was lost. Then, in 

 despair, he killed the author of his misfortune, and ever after 

 revenged himself on the race whose form he could never 

 resume. 



The Seoni panther is not a solitary case, several other man- 

 eating panthers having done scarcely less amount of mischief 

 in other parts of the province. Their indifference to water 

 makes it extremely difficult to bring them to book ; and, 

 indeed, panthers are far more generally met with by accident 

 than secured by regular hunting. When beating with ele- 

 phants they are very rarely found, considering their numbers ; 

 but they must be frequently passed at a short distance, unob- 

 served, in this kind of hunting. In 1862, I was hunting for 

 a tigress and cubs near Khapa, on the Lawa river, in Betul. 

 Their tracks of a few days old led into a deep fissure in the 

 rocky banks of the river, above which I went, leaving the 

 elephant below, and threw in stones from the edge. Some 

 way up I saw a large panther steal out at the head, and 

 sneak across the plain. He was out of shot, and I followed 

 on his tracks, which were clear enough for a few hundred 

 yards, till, at the crossing of a small rocky nald,, they dis- 

 appeared. I could not make it out, and was returning to the 

 elephant, when I saw the driver making signals. He had 

 followed me up above, and had seen the panther sneak back 



