A leopard will frequently attack if it is certain that your eyes have met, and it is always advisable, if you are unarmed, to pretend to disregard it, at the same time that you keep an acute look-out lest it should approach you from behind. Wherever I have been in Africa, the natives have declared that they had no fear of a lion, provided that they were not hunting, as it would certainly not attack them unprovoked; but that a leopard was never to be trusted, especially should it feel that it was discovered. I remember an occasion when the dry grass had been fired, and a native boy, accompanied by his grown-up brother, was busily employed with others in igniting the yellow reeds on the opposite bank of a small stream, which had checked the advance of the approaching flames. Being thirsty and hot, the boy stooped down to drink, and he was immediately seized by a leopard, which sprang from the high grass. His brother, with admirable aim, hurled his spear at the leopard while the boy was in its jaws; the point separated the vertebrae of the neck, and the fierce brute fell stone dead. The boy was carried to my hut, but there was no chance of recovery, as the fangs had torn open his chest and injured the lungs; these were exposed to view through the cavity between his ribs. He died during the night. The muscular strength of the jaws and neck is very marked in all the carnivora, and the skull when cleaned is most disappointing, and insignificant if compared with the size of a living head. This is especially the case with leopards, and it is difficult to believe that so small a pair of jaws can inflict a deadly wound almost immediately. I have already remarked upon the wide difference in the size of leopards, showing that the largest, which are sometimes known as panthers, are almost equal to a small tigress. Some of this class possess extraordinary power, in carrying a heavy weight within their jaws. At a place called Soonbarro, in the Jubbulpur district, we were camped upon a large open space entirely devoid of bush. The ground was free from grass, and dusty, therefore the surface would expose every track. Three full-grown sheep were tied to the cook's tent, well secured to a strong peg. In the morning only two remained, but the large tracks of a leopard or panther were deeply printed in the dust, and the sheep had been carried off bodily, as a big dog would carry a hare. The jungle at the base of a range of hills, almost perpendicular and full of caves, was the great resort of leopards, bears, and jackals; the sheep had been actually carried quite half a mile without leaving a trace upon the ground to show that it had been partially dragged, or that the leopard had stopped to rest. This was an admirable proof of a great carrying power, as nothing could have moved upon that dusty surface without leaving a well-printed trace.