504 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [Jan. 1, 190L 
where to be seen, and it was evident he got away 
after discharginf? the contents of his stomach, the 
dose of poison havin<< been too iiuioli. He livi d 
to give us some more annoyance as the following 
yarn will show. [Strychnine is a umcii safer poison 
tlian arsenic to aduiiiiister to an animal as they 
never vomit it.] 
ki:eding on fowls. 
_My fowl-house being well built with strong 
logs of timber,— in fact a regular American log 
house that no animal could get through, 
was a puzzle to Master Spols for many a (lay 
when he was on his midnigiit rounds. His foot- 
prints bore evidence of his having many a look 
through at the Kukus fowls, he was so anxious to 
reach, but could not. Although many a stray fowl 
sitting on eggs, as was their wont, fell to his lotin 
the surrounding bush, he seemed to fail to enter the 
house where the herd of hundreds were \isible. 
One night, after everybody had retired to rest, a 
fearful racket got up amongst the fowls, each 
one trying to croak louder tiian another, like so 
many huge frogs at work. All the household were 
soon' on the move, and tracks made to tlie house 
to see what was the matter, all making sure 
the leopard was apparently killing Kukus by tlie 
dozen inside. Upon nmsteiing at t:he door, cook, 
house-boys and everybody else were very brave, 
but to go inside and shoot the leopard was more 
than their feelings would stand ; so the door was 
most carefully opened a bit, and the lantern in- 
troduced to see what could be seen. I, holding 
my rifle iialf in at the door, expecting a charge 
every minute, determined to do for the beast. I 
was much disappointed to find a hole in the 
thatched roof with the moonlight shining 
in on the floor, where the leopard had evi- 
dently gone in by, for a lunch, sneaked a 
Kuku or two and evidently made his exit at the 
same hole, for search in every r.ook and corner 
failed to lind him. Upon searching outside we 
discovered footprints quite deep in the earth where 
he had jumped off the roof with his prey. 
ON THE WATCH. 
Judging that one or even two fowls, which 
was as many as could be carried away at that 
time, would not suffice for a meal but quite 
enough to prepare an appetite for a substantial 
.meal, I offered a reward of 5s to anyone who would 
sit up and watch for the leopard, and shoot him, 
as I felt sure he would return later on in the 
night. My cook and another domestic volunteered 
to sit in "the adjoining room, partitioned off fron'i 
the fowl-house. 'The dividing wall only being six 
feet high the leopard could be seen and shot 
when entering his hole in the roof without much 
danger of a personal attack upon the watchers 
who considered themselves pretty safe and were 
quite jubilant at the prospect of being considered 
by all the neighbouring people brave, lion- 
hearted men who were brave and courageous 
enough to shoot a leoi>ard which had a reputation 
not only for killing domestic animals but human 
beings also ; for it was known to iiave the 
daring to carry away a boy and kill and eat him 
in broad daylight. 
About 9 30 p.m., just as all the household 
were retiring for the night, the shot of a ritie 
was heard and out everybody bolted to see the 
result. Upon interviewing the watchmen and 
examining the hole in the roof and outside of the 
shed for some distance around we concluded that 
Somewa, the cook, had missed ; for there was 
neither blood nor leopard to be seen anywhere 
about. How the watcher could have missed the 
animal (who according to his own story, was 
halt through the hole in the roof when he fired) 
seemed a mystery to all. l !ie leopard, however, left 
marks of bis l aving been there beyond a doubt. 
WANTING TO CATCH MEN. 
All the household had gone to rest again and 
were soutid in the arms of Nod, when all were 
rou«ed at 12 :!0 M.m. by the loud report of a gun. 
the hoarse growling of the leojiiud and the yelling 
of men, as if a fierce battle was raging between 
man and beast. I could hear rlislinctly "Mpalugwe 
afmi.a cughura enza," — "leopard wants to catch 
men." Of course, no time wu.s lost in seizing my rifle 
and hastening to the spot to lind no one any the worse 
of the scare. .So I niay as well tell my readers in 
my cordi's own words wluit actually transpired. 
We were do-i-ing, but not actually asleep when 
iny companion roused me up \\\ \\ a nudge on the 
side witli his fist ; anil upon lookii g up, I saw the 
leopard's head and neck through the hole in the 
roof. (Not a Kuku was on the " prareh '' for him to 
seize, tor they had been all knocked down on to 
the floor during t he pievi(ius attack and were as 
quiet as mice, not being able to .>-n:ell the leojjard 
in his elevated position.) I let him get in his fore- 
arm and lired. No sooner had I done so than he 
made a dive throuijh the h'de on to the fowl 
rack, and one spring right into the room where we 
were light ing in the n)iddle and just as he reached 
the ground, my friend and I jjlunged through the 
door, both leopard and ourselves, howling our very 
hardest ; both of us fell heels overhead out.'^ide the 
door, and to the right of it the leopard followed 
like lightning, but fortunately for us turned to the 
left and left us alive, and — well, this is all I know ! 
I examined my men who were more frightened 
than hurt, and found sonie spots of blood 
on one of tlieir cloths and on the side of 
the door some leopard's nair and blood, 
evidence of the beast being severely wounded ; but 
how tlienigger escaped without a scratch seemed 
to me a mys'ery. Well, upon following up blood 
maiks on ths ground, we found that the brute 
had gone right through a well- secured doable 
bango end fence across our tennis ground, and 
through the fence on the ot!;er side, leaving ample 
evidence, in bloodstains and hair, on the fence to 
show that he was mortally wounded. A little 
further on about 100 yards, in all, from the fowl 
house, groaning was heard, and my dogs began to 
bark fuiiously. I knew by this time, if the 
leopard had strength enough left in him, he would 
go for the dogs, so we got torches of dry grass 
and approached the spot where the groans were 
heard, to find the beast lying on his side, breathing 
hard, but making no effort to move. He gave one o'- 
two kicks and my rifle was up to shoot. But I 
didn't — he was dead in a second, and 1 was rot 
called'upon to spoil the skin with more bullet holes, 
I have not related half the depredations of this 
scourge of a leopard, for fear of wearying my 
readers, but suffice it to say that he was the most 
daring, impudent beast I have ever heard of and 
my reward was paid, and my cook who shot the 
brute was never afterwards called chicken-hearted. 
My readers may be surprised that I had not; 
courage enough to sit up for the animal myself. 
My reason for not doing so was because my wife 
was ill with a severe attack of pleurisy, and it 
would not be right for me to do so under the 
circumstances. It would not be the first leopard I 
sat up for and shot however. 
The daring of the beast to returri_ a couple 
of hours after having been fired aF within 10 
paces, seems incredible. — H. B. 
