A Striking Contrast. 
SOME years back I lived at a place called Arsi- 
bong Town. It was here where our missionary 
work in Nigeria first got its foothold. I did not 
live there very long but a number of things occurred 
during my brief stay which I shall not forget very 
easily. Amongst them was the following incident. 
Men, principally chiefs, had had their cattle dis- 
turbed at night-time by the visits of a hungry 
leopard, and when the visits led to injured cattle, 
or their complete loss, the owners soon saw that if 
they were to have any animals spared they must 
bestir themselves, and either catch the leopard or 
destroy it. So one morning, when word came to 
town that the leopard could be seen hiding in the 
thick part of some bush, every man jack of them 
laid hold of any weapon within reach that would 
serve, and sallied forth, fifty to sixty in number, 
determined to surround the spot where the leopard 
was, and kill him once for all. I saw them go 
past the mission-house in single file, armed with 
cutlass, club, sword or gun, talking very excitedly 
about what they were going to do. I was very 
busy at the time, and did not trouble to join them. 
To tell you the truth, I felt there was no need. 
There were enough men to f:at the leopard, let alone 
kill it. Judge of my surprise, therefore, when about 
an hour later they all trudged back without leopard 
or skin. Upon enquiry, I found they had not 
