i 



88 rA.?/ET//-S OF LEOPARDS AXD WEIGHT OF UOXS, 



duced numbers, lamentable to say ; but there is one 

 redeeming ray of light left — viz., that there are 

 some of those bold explorers left to tell what they 

 have seen, and most markedly is this applicable in 

 reference to Mr. P. M'Gillewie, who has doubtlessly 

 in the good (?) old times been defrauded and robbed 

 by Kama's august father, or been entertained by the 

 bloodthirsty, stalwart savage, Mosulccatse. If my 

 correspondent had nothing further to write about 

 than how he was treated by these all-powerful 

 potentates, it would be information well worth read- 

 ing, but when his pen touches upon the habits, 

 instincts, and varieties of the wild animals he en- 

 countered in his day, he opens up a mine rich in 

 natural history wealth. 



It is true that Mr. P. M'Gillewie has not 

 honoured me with a long letter, but, brief as his 

 contribution is, it proves amply that he is treating 

 upon subjects with which he is thoroughly con- 



. versant, therefore I hope, as I am certain a vast 

 army of naturalists will also do, that this is not the 

 last that thev will hear from him, but rather that it is 

 the commencement of a series of epistles in which his 

 great experiences among the wild beasts of South 

 Africa are narrated. 



In the seco d paragraph of his letter he alludes 

 to my having seen a panther, not a leopard. 

 Why this distinction } for I have ever upheld, and 

 do uphold, the conviction that leopard and panther 

 are synonymous terms, and mean identically the 

 same species. For a long period I have tried to instil 

 tliis belief, but it is only within the last year or two 

 that my labour has produced any results. I see that 

 great Nimrod, Sir Samuel Baker, has come to my 

 way of thinking, for in his new book there is a 

 picture of one of these creatures crouching, with a 

 line of explanation underneath, " The leopard or 

 panther always wary." 



