Chap. L] 



BEARS. 



25 



Leopards 1 are the only formidable members of the 

 tiger race in Ceylon 2 , and they are neither very nume- 

 rous nor very dangerous, as they seldom attack man. 

 By the Europeans, the Ceylon leopard is erroneously 

 called a cheetah,h\xt the true "cheetah " (felis jubata), 

 the hunting leopard of India, does not exist in the 

 island. 3 



There is a rare variety of the leopard which has been 

 found in various parts of the island, in which the skin, 

 instead of being spotted, is of a uniform black. 4 Leo- 

 pards frequent the vicinity of pasture lands in quest 

 of the deer and other peaceful animals which resort to 

 them ; and the villagers often complain of the destruc- 



but to go further was impracticable. 

 Just within ball-range there was an 

 open space, and, as the man gained 

 it, I saw that he was pursued by a 

 bear and two cubs. As the person 

 of the fugitive covered the bear, it 

 was impossible to fire without risk. 

 At last he fell exhausted, and the 

 bear being close upon him, I dis- 

 charged both barrels. The first 

 broke the bear's shoulder, but this 

 only made her more savage, and 

 rising on her hind legs she ad- 

 vanced with ferocious growls, when 

 the second barrel, though I do not 

 think it took effect, served to frigh- 

 ten her, for turning round she re- 

 treated, followed by the cubs. Some 

 natives then waded through the 

 mud to the Moorman, who was 

 just exhausted, and would have 

 been drowned but that he fell with 

 his head upon a tuft of grass : the 

 poor man was unable to speak, 

 and for several weeks his intellect 

 seemed confused. The adventure 

 sufficed to satisfy him that he could 

 not again depend upon a charm to 

 protect him from bears, though he 

 always insisted that but for its 

 having fallen from his hair where 

 he had fastened it under his tur- 



ban, the bear would not have ven- 

 tured to attack him." 



1 Felis pardus, Linn. What is 

 called a leopard, or a cheetah, in 

 Ceylon, is in reality the true pan- 

 ther. 



2 A belief is prevalent at Trin- 

 comalie that a Bengal tiger inhabits 

 the jungle in its vicinity ; and the 

 story runs that it escaped from the 

 wreck of a vessel on which it had 

 been embarked for England. Offi- 

 cers of the Government state posi- 

 tively that they have more than 

 once come on it whilst hunting ; 

 and one gentleman of the Royal 

 Engineers, who had seen it, assured 

 me that he could not be mistaken 

 as to its being a tiger of India, and 

 one of the largest description. 



3 Mr. Baker, in his Eight Years 

 in Ceylon, has stated that there 

 are two species of leopard in the 

 island, one of which he implies is 

 the Indian cheetah. But although 

 he specifies discrepancies in size, 

 weight, and marking between the 

 varieties which he has examined, 

 his data are not sufficient to iden- 

 tify any of them with the true felis 

 jubata. 



4 E. melas, Per on and Leseur, 



