SIS 
PANTHER* 
more acute ; when suddenly exerting himself, the 
animal utters a violent cry, interrupted by long 
tremulous sounds, which, together, make a dis- 
tracting impression upon the mind. It is chiefly 
in the night that this is heard ; when silence and 
darkness add to the horror, and his roarings are 
repeated by the echoes of the mountains. 
The skin of these animals is much esteemed all 
over the East, particularly in China ; the man- 
darines cover their seats of justice in the public 
places with it, and convert it into coverings for 
cushions in w inter. In Europe, these skins, though 
but seldom to be met with, are of no great value ; 
those of the panther and the leopard being held in 
much greater estimation. This is all the little be- 
nefit we derive from this dreadful animal, of which 
so many falsehoods have been reported ; as, that 
its sweat was poisonous, and the hair of its whisk- 
ers more dangerous than an envenomed arrow* 
But the real mischiefs which the tiger occasion* 
while living are sufficient, without giving ima- 
ginary ones to the parts of its body when dead. 
In fact, the Indians sometimes eat its flesh, and 
End it neither disagreeable nor unwholesome. 
Panther* 
This animal measures, from the point of the nose 
to the tail, six feet and a half or seven feet, and 
its tail near three feet. Its limbs are very strong ; 
its hair is short and smooth, of a bright tawny 
colour ; its back, sides, and flanks, are elegantly 
marked with roundish black spots, disposed in 
circles ; there are from four to five of these spots 
in each circle, with a single black spot commonly 
in the centre of each ; on the face and legs there 
are single spots only ; on the top of the back there 
is a row of oblong spots, the longest next the tail; 
