d that at first we did
not credit him, but turning into the village he showed us the poor dog,
with great wounds on its neck and throat where the leopard had pounced
upon it. The noise, it seems, had brought some herdsmen to the place,
and their cries had frightened the leopard and saved the wretched dog.
As the man said he could show us the spot where the leopard generally
remained, we determined to beat him up; so sending a man off on
horseback for the beaters to slightly alter their intended line of
beat, we rode off, attended by the villager, to get behind the
leopard's lair, and see if we could not secure him. These fierce and
courageous brutes, for they are both, are very common in the sal
jungles; and as I have seen several killed, both in Bhaugulpore and
Oudh, I must devote a chapter to the subject.

CHAPTER XII.

The leopard.--How to shoot him.--Gallant encounter with a wounded
one.--Encounter with a leopard in a dak bungalow.--Pat shoots two
leopards.--Effects of the Express bullet.--The 'Sirwah Purrul,' or
annual festival of huntsmen.--The Hindoo ryot.--Rice-planting and
harvest.--Poverty of the ryot.--His apathy.--Village fires.--Want of
sanitation.

Writing principally for friends at home, who are not familiar with
Indian life, I must narrate facts that, although well known in Indian
circles, are yet new to the general reader in England. My object is of
course to represent the life we lead in the far East, and to give a
series of pictures of what is going on there. If I occasionally touch
on what may to Indian readers seem well-worn ground, they will forgive
me.

The leopard then, as a rule keeps to the wooded parts of India. In the
long grassy jungles bordering the Koosee he is not generally met with.
He is essentially a predatory animal, always on the outlook for a meal;
round the villages, nestling amid their sal forests, he is continually
on the prowl, looking out for a goat, a calf, or unwary dog. His
appearance and habits are well known; he generally selects for his
lair, a retired spot surrounded by dense jungle. The one we were after
now had his home in a matted jungle, growing out of a pool of water,
which had collected in a long hollow, forming the receptacle of the
surface drainage from the adjacent slopes. This hollow stretched for
miles towards the creek which we had been beating up; and the locality
having moisture and other concurring elements in its favour, the
vegetation had a