MAMMALIA—LEOPARD. 191 
a cry among the natives that the head should be cut off: it was; and, in so 
doing, the knife came directly across the bayonet. The animal measured 
scarcely less than four feet from the root of the tail to the muzzle. There 
was no tradition of a tiger having been in Jaffna before; indeed, this one 
must have either come a distance of almost twenty miles, or have swam 
across an arm of the sea nearly two in breadth; fer Jeffna stands on a 
peninsula on which there is no jungle of any magnitude.” 
Tee Ll, EsOrBA BR De 
. 
Aes 
AES 
Tus formidable and sanguinary animal is found nearly throughout tne 
whole of Africa, and in eastern and southern Asia. He usually measures 
about three feet in length, exclusive of the tail, but sometimes reaches four 
feet. His appearance indicates his natural disposition. He has a restless 
eye and a sinister countenance, and all his motions are hasty and abrupt. 
In rapidity, agility, and precision of motion, he is unrivalled by any other 
animal; an advantage which he owes to the strength of his muscles, the 
suppleness of his joints, the extreme pliability of his spine, the greater 
lateral compression of his body, and the slender proportions of his limbs, 
His prey, on which he darts from his hiding-place, and even pursues up 
the trees, consists of antelopes, monkeys, and the smaller quadrupeds. 
Usually, he shuns man, but when closely pressed, he turns upon the hunter, 
and hunger will drive him to attack, though by stealth, the human race. 
“Even among the cats,” says Mr Bennett, “he is remarkable for extreme 
sleekness and excessive agility. He is well distinguished from all the 
other species, by the vividness of his coloring, and the beauty of his mark- 
1 Felis leopardus, Lin. 
