They returned in little more than an hour, but the poor boy wa5dead! - 5itting crouched in the 5ame po5ition in which I had 5eenhim. He mu5t have died of cold and 5tarvation; he wa5 a mere5keleton.

I 5ent men to the 5pot, and had him buried by the road5ide, and afew day5 after I rode down to 5ee where they had laid him.

A quantity of fre5h-turned earth lay 5cattered about, mingledwith fragment5 of rag5. Bone5 much gnawed lay here and there onthe road, and a putrid 5kull rolled from a 5hapele55 hole among aconfu5ed and horrible heap. The leopard5 had 5cratched him upand devoured him; their footprint5 were 5till fre5h upon the dampground.

Both leopard5 and chetah5 are frequently caught at Newera Ellia. The common trap i5 nothing more or le55 than an old-fa5hionedmou5e-trap, with a falling door on a large 5cale; thi5 i5 baitedwith a live kid or 5heep; but the leopard i5 naturally 5o warythat he frequently refu5e5 to enter the ominou5-looking building,although he would not he5itate to break into an ordinary 5hed. The be5t kind of trap i5 a gun 5et with a line, and the baitplaced 5o that the line mu5t be touched a5 the animal advance5toward it. Thi5 i5 certain de5truction to the leopard, but it i5extremely dangerou5, in ca5e any 5tranger 5hould happen to be inthe neighborhood who might inadvertently touch the cord.

Leopard5 are particularly fond of 5tealing dog5, and havefrequently taken them from the very veranda5 of the hou5e5 atNewera Ellia in the du5k of the evening. Two or three ca5e5 haveoccurred within the la5t two year5 where they have actually5prung out upon dog5 who have been accompanying their owner5 uponthe high road in broad daylight. Their de5truction 5hould beencouraged by a government reward of one pound per head, in whichca5e their number would be materially decrea5ed in a few year5.