372 
MAMMALIA. 
“ Crouching, and using every possible precaution, I issued from 
my shelter, carrying my gun with the barrels depressed and my 
finger on the second trigger. As soon as I was perceived the 
Panther made a spring of ten feet towards me. I aimed at its 
head ; but the rapidity with which it came was so great, and the 
darkness so intense, that I missed, — my ball entering the ground, 
and the fire from my piece singeing the hair on its neck. 
“ The terrible brute now threw itself upon me, and bore me 
to the ground in an instant. I fell underneath on my back, with 
my shoulders caught in the bush that had served me as a place of 
concealment. First my foe attempted to strangle me, and fixing 
upon my neck, tore at it in indescribable rage. This was for- 
tunately protected by the collar and thick hood of my cloak. 
“ With my left hand I endeavoured to defend myself and push 
off my assailant, while with the right I made desperate efforts to 
grasp the hunting-knife that lay under me. The former it bit 
through and through, notwithstanding the woollen sleeve that 
covered it ; it also gnawed my face horribly : one of the fangs of 
the upper jaw tore my forehead and went through my nose ; the 
other fang entered at the corner of the left eye and broke my 
cheek-bone. Incapable of resisting with one hand, I abandoned 
the useless search for my knife, and with my two hands I con- 
vulsively grasped my assailant by the neck. It then seized me 
across the face, and driving its formidable teeth into the flesh, 
smashed the whole of my jaw. The noise thus caused sounded so 
painfully that I thought my brains were being crushed out. My 
face was in its mouth, from whence issued a burning, infected 
breath that stifled me. Still I clung to the foe by the neck, 
which was as large and hard as the trunk of a tree, and at length, 
with the strength of despair, I was enabled to thrust away its 
horrible head from mine. It then seized me by the left arm, 
and bit four times through the elbow. Without the large 
amount of clothing with which it was covered, it must have been 
crushed like a piece of glass. 
“ All this time I was lying on my back on the extreme brink 
of the ravine, my legs above and head downwards. 
4 4 The Panther tried a second time to take me by the face ; I 
resisted ; but my strength was all but exhausted. Making a 
movement to better my position, it clutched my head. Gathering 
