The Leopard and Panther 143 



or to have succeeded in its fatal enterprises in the face of 

 equal difficulties. 



It is to be taken into consideration that a panther very 

 rarely exceeds eight feet from tip to tip, or weighs more 

 than a hundred and seventy pounds. Several writers have 

 said that this animal's powers of offence are scarcely inferior 

 to those of the tiger ; nevertheless, nothing is more certain 

 than the fact that with all its great strength, its exceed- 

 ing activity, and formidable armature, a panther cannot 

 stand before a tiger for a moment. It cannot overwhelm 

 a man instantly, bite him through the body, or crush his 

 life out with a single blow ; and yet, unless like the super- 

 stitious people whom this fell beast destroys, we can 

 imagine dem^ons becoming incarnated to scourge humanity, 

 nothing more terrible and deadly than a man-eater of this 

 class can be conceived of. Captain Forsyth thus sketches 

 a famous panther of the Seoni district, which he was in 

 charge of when those scenes alluded to occurred. " This 

 brute killed, incredible as it may seem, nearly a hundred 

 people before he was shot by a shikdri. He never ate the 

 bodies, but merely lapped the blood from the throat. His 

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

 some sleeper on his bed, stifling any outcry with his deadly 

 grip, or to climb into the high platforms on which watchers 

 guard their fields from deer, etc., and drag his victim 

 thence. He was not to be balked of his prey, and when 

 driven off from one side of a village, would hasten round 

 to the opposite side, and secure another person in the con- 

 fusion. A few moments accomplished his murderous 

 work, and such was the devilish cunning he joined to his 



