nd dropping his hold
he laps it up eagerly, when the hood is cleverly slipped on again.

The conducting of the cheetah from its cage to the chase is by no means
an easy matter. The keeper leads him along, as he would a large dog,
with a chain; and for a time as they scamper over the country the
leopard goes willingly enough; but if anything arrests his attention,
some noise from the forest, some scented trail upon the ground, he
moves more slowly, throws his head aloft and peers savagely round. A
few more minutes perhaps and he would be unmanageable. The keeper,
however, is prepared for the emergency. He holds in his left hand a
cocoanut shell, sprinkled on the inside with salt; and by means of a
handle affixed to the shell he puts it at once over the nose of the
cheetah. The animal licks the salt, loses the scent, forgets the object
which arrested his attention, and is led quietly along again. [414]

9. Decoy stags

For hunting stags, tame stags were formerly used as decoys according
to the method described as follows: "We had about a dozen trained
stags, all males, with us. These, well acquainted with the object
for which they were sent forward, advanced at a gentle trot over
the open ground towards the skirt of the wood. They were observed
at once by the watchers of the herd, and the boldest of the wild
animals advanced to meet them. Whether the intention was to welcome
them peacefully or to do battle for their pasturage I cannot tell;
but in a few minutes the two parties were engaged in a furious
contest. Head to head, antlers to antlers, the tame deer and the
wild fought with great fury. Each of the tame animals, every one
of them large and formidable, was closely engaged in contest with a
wild adversary, standing chiefly on the defensive, not in any feigned
battle or mimicry of war but in a hard-fought combat. We now made our
appearance in the open ground on horseback, advancing towards the
scene of conflict. The deer on the skirts of the wood, seeing us,
took to flight; but those actually engaged maintained their ground
and continued the contest. In the meantime a party of native huntsmen,
sent for the purpose, gradually drew near to the wild stags, getting
in between them and the forest. What their object was we were not at
the time aware; in truth it was not one that we could have approved
or encouraged. They made their way into the rear of the wild stags,
which were still combating too fiercely to min