to the
Moorman, who was just exhausted and 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,
and they are neither very numerous nor very dangerous as they seldom
attack man. By Europeans they are commonly called cheetahs; but the true
cheetah, the hunting leopard of India (_Felis jubata_), does not exist
in Ceylon. There is a rare variety which has been found in various parts
of the island, in which the skin, instead of being spotted, is of a
uniform black.[2] The leopards frequent the vicinity of pasture lands 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
proposed to watch by the carcase of a bullock recently killed by a
leopard, in the hope of shooting the spoiler on his return in search of
his prey, the native owner of the slaughtered animal, though earnestly
desiring to be avenged, has assured them that it would be in vain, as,
the beast having fallen on its right side, the leopard would not return.

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

[Footnote 2: F. melas, _Peron_ and _Leseur_.]

The Singhalese hunt them for the sake of their extremely beautiful
skins, but prefer taking them in traps and pitfalls, and occasionally in
spring cages formed of poles driven firmly into the ground, within which
a kid is generally fastened as a bait; the door being held open by a
sapling bent down by the united force of several men, and so arranged to
act as a spring, to which a noose is ingeniously attached, formed of
plaited deer hide. The cries of the