Chap. I.] 



LEOPARDS. 



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 " 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 



