TIIK M'lOI'.MM). 



leoi 



npard, the only fonnidulile example of the /'V//r/(r in ( V\l<m. ll< 'i> .eribes it, MS never voluntarily 

 intruding itself on man, and as hastily retreating from his presence, ljut as sometimes carry in;,' i.ll'dogs, 

 and even men. Tho small-pox makes dreadful ravages in the island, and the peculiar odour of this 

 disease is an attraction to the leopards. 



The opinion of Major Skinner, who was for more than fifty years in the interior of ( Vylon, is 

 quoted by Sir Emerson, in favour of the leopard's pacific disposition towards man, adding tin- following 

 extract of a letter from the major in illustration of it : 



"On the occasion of one of my visits to Adam's Peak, in the prosecution of my military rceon- 

 naisances of the mountain zone, I fixed on a pretty little patena (i. e., meadow), in the midst of an 

 extensive and dense forest in the southern segment of the Peak Range, as a favourable spot for 

 operations. It would have been difficult, after descending from the cone of the peak, to have found 

 one's way to this point, in the midst of so vast a wilderness of trees, had not long experience assured 

 me that good game tracks would be found leading to it; and by one of them I reached it. It was in 

 the afternoon, just after one of those tropical sun-showers which decorate every branch and blade with 

 its pendent brilliants, and the little patena was covered with game, either driven to the open space by 

 the drippings from the leaves, or tempted by the freshness of the pasture. There were several pairs of 

 elk, the bearded, antlered male contrasting finely with his mate, and other varieties of garni; in a 

 profusion not to be found in any place frequented by man. It was some time before I could allow 

 them to be disturbed by the rude fall of the axe, in our necessity to establish our bivouac for the night, 

 and they were so unaccustomed to danger that it was long before they took alarm at our noises. 



" The following morning, anxious to gain a height in time to avail myself of the clear atmosphere 

 of sun-rise for my observations, I started off by myself through the jungle, leaving orders for mv men 

 with my surveying instruments to follow my track by the notches which I cut in the bark of the trees. 

 On leaving the plain, I availed myself of a fine wide game-track, which lay in my direction, and had 

 gone perhaps half a mile from the camp, when I was startled by a slight rustling in the nilloo (a species 

 of acunthacem) to my right, and in another instant, by the spring of a magnificent leopard, which, in 

 a bound full eight feet in height over the lower brushwood, lighted at my feet, within eighteen inches 

 of the spot whereon I stood, and lay in a crouching position, his fiery, gleaming eyes fixed upon me. 



" The predicament was not a pleasant one. I had no weapon of defence, and, with one spring or 

 blow of his paw, the beast could have annihilated me. To move I know would only encourage his 

 attack. It occurred to me at the moment that I had heard of the power of man's eye over wild 

 animals, and accordingly I fixed my gaze as intently as the agitation of such a moment enabled me on 

 his eyes. We stared at each other for some seconds, when, to my inexpressible joy, the beast turned 

 and bounded down the straight, open path before me. This scene occurred just at that period of the 

 morning when the grazing animals retired from the open patena to the cool shade of the forest : 

 doubtless, the leopard had taken my approach for that of a deer, or some such animal. And if his 

 spring had been at a quadruped instead of a biped, his distance was so well measured, that it must 

 have landed him on the neck of a deer, an .elk, or a buffalo ; as it was, one pace more would have done 

 for me. A bear would not have let his victim off so easily." 



THE PANTHER.* 



THE length of the Panther is nearly six feet, exclusive of the tail, which is nearly three feet. The 

 colour of the upper part of the body is bright tawny-yellow, paler 011 the sides, and nearly white on 

 the belly; the animal is beautifully marked on the sides, back, and flanks, with black spots, dispersed in 

 circles, from four to five in each, and a spot of the ordinary colour of its fur appears in the centre. On 

 the face, breast, and legs, the spots are single. The ears are short, and more pointed than those of 

 the tiger. 



Although the names of "leopard" and "panther" have been long familiar in common language, 

 and have conveyed the idea of two distinct species, yet it is perfectly clear that no scientific writer of 

 the Ia.it generation either described, or, indeed, appeared to know, in what respect the animals dill'eivd. 



* Fells Panlus. Linnreus. 



