THE HIGHER NARBADA 269 



terrible scourge than a tiger. lii 1858 a man-killing 

 panther devastated the northern part of the Seoni district, 

 killing (incredible as it may seem) nearly a hundred 

 persons before he was shot by a shikari. He never ate 

 the bodies, but merely lapped the blood from the throat ; 

 and his plan was either to steal into a house at night, 

 and strangle some sleeper on his bed, stifling all outcry 

 with his deadly grip, or to climb into the high platforms 

 from which watchers guard their fields from deer, and 

 drag out his victim from there. He was not to be baulked 

 of his prey ; and when driven ofi from one end of a village, 

 would hurry round to the opposite side and secure another 

 in the confusion. A few moments completed his deadly 

 work, and such was the devilish cunning he joined to 

 this extraordinary boldness that all attempts to find and 

 shoot him were for many months unsuccessful. European 

 sportsmen who went out, after hunting him in vain all 

 day, would find his tracks close to the door of their tent 

 in the morning. When, a few years later, I passed through 

 the scene of his chief depredations (Dhuma), a curious 

 myth had grown round the history of this panther. A 

 man and his wife were traveUing back to their home from 

 a pilgrimage to Benares, when they met on the road a 

 panther. The woman was terrified; but the man said, 

 " Eear not, I possess a charm by which I 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 wiU 

 recover my proper shape. ' ' He then swallowed his own por- 

 tion of the magic powder, and assuming the likeness of the 

 panther, persuaded him to leave the path. Returning 

 to the woman, he opened his mouth to receive the trans- 

 posing charm ; but shcj 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 misfortime, 

 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 indiffer- 



