nd would have been drowned but that he fell with his
head upon a tuft of grass: the poor man was unable to speak, and for
several weeks his intellect seemed confused. The adventure sufficed to
satisfy him that he could not again depend upon a charm to protect him,
from bears, though he always insisted that but for its having fallen
from his hair where he had fastened it under his turban, the bear would
not have ventured to attack him."]

Leopards[1] are the only formidable members of the tiger race in
Ceylon[2], and they are neither very numerous nor very dangerous, as
they seldom attack man. By the Europeans, the Ceylon leopard is
erroneously called a _cheetah_, but the true "cheetah" (_felis
jubata_),' the hunting leopard of India, does not exist in the
island.[3]

[Footnote 1: Felis pardus, _Linn._ What is called a leopard, or a
cheetah, in Ceylon, is in reality the true panther.]

[Footnote 2: A belief is prevalent at Trincomalie that a Bengal tiger
inhabits the jungle in its vicinity; and the story runs that it
escaped from the wreck of a vessel on which it had been embarked for
England. Officers of the Government state positively that they have
more than once come on it whilst hunting; and one gentleman of the
Royal Engineers, who had seen it, assured me that he could not be
mistaken as to its being a tiger of India, and one of the largest
description.]

[Footnote 3: Mr. BAKER, in his _Eight Years in Ceylon_, has
stated that there are two species of leopard in the island, one of
which he implies is the Indian cheetah. But although he specifies
discrepancies in size, weight, and marking between the varieties which
he has examined, his data are not sufficient to identify any of them
with the true _felis jubata_.]

There is a rare variety of the leopard which has been found in various
parts of the island, in which the skin, instead of being spotted, is of
a uniform black.[1] Leopards frequent the vicinity of pasture hinds in
quest of the deer and other peaceful animals which resort to them; and
the villagers often complain of the destruction of their cattle by these
formidable marauders. In relation to them, the natives have a curious
but firm conviction that when a bullock is killed by a leopard, and, in
expiring, falls so that _its right side is undermost_, the leopard will
not return to devour it. I have been told by English sportsmen (some of
whom share in the popular belief), that sometimes, when they have