PANTHER HUNTING. Ill 



wishes to bite through. All cattle killed by 

 the panther are sorely mangled about the nose. 



The panther is often hunted by very 

 small dogs : when a trail is discovered, and 

 it is pretty fresh, the young dogs are brought 

 on to it, to find out whether they acknow- 

 ledge it or not ; if they are likely to turn 

 out good trail dogs, they immediately roll 

 themselves over and over on the trail, and 

 it is reckoned a good sign that they will 

 behave well in future. They are generally 

 small dogs, and of course are not meant to 

 attack a panther, but merely to follow his 

 trail, and either to tree him, or, if he sits 

 at bay, to surround him and bark until the 

 hunters arrive. 



These panther hunters generally hunt in 

 pairs : one of them is armed with two spears, 

 formed from hard wood sharpened at the 

 point, but sometimes pointed with iron. One 

 spear is about ten feet long and the other 

 about three feet shorter, but they are both 

 held close together for fear the longer one 

 may be snapped. The other has either his 

 bow and arrows or some sort of fire-arm, but 

 as fire-arms are very scarce, it is generally 

 the former. When the panther is tree'd, or 

 at bay, the spearsman advances, followed 



