28 o 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
bourhood. The trap is formed by an oblong lo 
feet by 3 of very strong and straight palisades, sunk 
2 feet deep in the ground, and well pounded in 
with stones. These should be 5 feet high, with a 
fall door at one end. The top should be closely 
secured with heavy cross-pieces of parallel logs, well 
weighted with big stones. 
The rear of this trap should be partitioned with 
bamboo cross-bars to form a cage, in which either a 
goat or a village dog should be tied as a living bait. 
Leopards are particularly fond of dogs, and the 
advantage of such a bait during the night consists 
in the certainty that the dog, finding itself alone 
in a strange place, will howl or bark, and 
thereby attract the leopard. The partition must be 
made of sufficient strength to protect the animal 
from attack. In Africa the natives form a trap by 
supporting the fallen trunk of a large tree in such a 
manner that it falls upon the leopard as it passes 
beneath to reach the bait. This is very effective in 
crushing the animal, but it is exceedingly dangerous, 
like all other African traps, as it would kill any 
person or other creature that should attempt to 
pass. Newera Ellia, the mountain sanatorium of 
Ceylon, was always well furnished with leopard-traps 
upon the permanent system, and the leopards, 
which were at one time a scourge of the neighbour¬ 
hood, were considerably reduced. In 1846 I intro¬ 
duced English breeds of cattle and sheep, and started 
an agricultural settlement at that delightful mountain 
refuge from tropical heat; but the leopard became 
