,Chap. I.] 
LEOPAEDS. 
27 
The Singhalese hunt them for the sake of their ex- 
tremely beautiful skins, but prefer taking them in traps 
and pitfalls, and occasionally in spring cages formed of 
poles driven firmly into the ground, within which a kid 
is generally fastened as a bait ; the door being held open 
by a sapling bent down by the united force of several 
men, and so arranged as to act as a spring, to which a 
noose is ingeniously attached, formed of plaited deer's 
hide. The cries of the kid attract the leopard, which 
being tempted to enter, is enclosed by the liberation of 
the spring, and grasped firmly round the body by the 
noose. 
Like the other carnivora, leopards are timid and 
cowardly in the presence of man, never intruding on 
him voluntarily, and making a hasty retreat when ap- 
proached. Instances have, however, occurred of indi- 
viduals having been slain by them ; and it is believed, 
that, having once tasted human blood, they, like the 
tiger, acquire an habitual relish for it. A peon, on duty 
by night at the court-house of Anarajapoora, was some 
years ago carried off by a leopard from a table in the 
verandah on which he had laid down his head to sleep. 
At Batticaloa a {e cheetah " in two instances in succession 
was known to carry off men placed on a stage erected 
in a tree to drive away elephants from rice-land : but 
such cases are rare, and, as compared with their dread 
of the bear, the natives of Ceylon entertain but slight 
apprehensions of the " cheetah." It is, however, the 
dread of sportsmen, whose dogs when beating in the 
jungle are especially exposed to its attacks : and I am 
aware of an instance in which a party having tied their 
dogs to the tent-pole for security, and fallen asleep 
round them, a leopard sprang into the tent and carried 
