THE WITCH-PANTHER. in 



witch, but the piece out of the ear proved it 

 was the panther I struck at three years previously, 

 and the broken fore-paw showed it was three- 

 legged. I must have done this also when I cut 

 off its ear. The death of the old woman Lagon 

 about a week after the panther was shot proved 

 conclusively that she was the witch-panther. May 

 her bones be accursed ! ' 



I may here remark that I cannot answer for 

 the truth of all my friend, the Bagh-maree, has 

 related of the witch-panther ; but on my arrival 

 at Somij I certainly was told of the ravages of 

 a man-eating panther in that neighbourhood. A 

 small panther, about twenty inches high and four 

 feet long (exclusive of tail) was killed with 

 poisoned arrows at the back of my bungalow 

 last November. This, the villagers declare, was 

 the witch-panther. It had only half of one ear, 

 and had lost the use of its left fore-paw. I have 

 the skin to this day. 



