28 
MAMMALIA. 
[Chap. I. 
off a dog from the midst of its slumbering masters. 
On one occasion being in the mountains near Kandy, a 
messenger despatched to me through the jungle ex-^ 
cused his delay by stating that a " cheetah " had seated 
itself in the only practicable path, and remained 
quietly licking its fore paws and rubbing them over 
its face, till he was forced to drive it, with stones, into 
the forest. 
Leopards are strongly attracted by the peculiar odour 
which accompanies small-pox. The reluctance of the 
natives to submit themselves or their children to vac- 
cination exposes the island to frightful visitations of 
this disease ; and in the villages in the interior it is 
usual on such occasions to erect huts in the jungle to 
serve as temporary hospitals. Towards these the leo- 
pards are certain to be allured ; and the medical officers 
are obliged to resort to increased precautions in con- 
sequence. This fact is connected with a curious native 
superstition. Amongst the avenging scourges sent direct 
from the gods, the Singhalese regard both the ravages 
of the leopard, and the visitation of the small-pox. The 
latter they call par excellence " maha ledda," the great 
" sickness ;" they look upon it as a special manifes- 
tation of devidosay, u the displeasure of the gods ; " and 
the attraction of the cheetahs to the bed of the sufferer 
they attribute to the same indignant agency. A few 
years ago, the capua, or demon-priest of a " dewale," 
at Oggalbodda, a village near Caltura, when suffering 
under small-pox, was devoured by a cheetah, and his 
fate was regarded by those of an opposite faith as a 
special judgment from heaven. 
Such is the awe inspired by this belief in connection 
with the small-pox, that a person afflicted with it is 
