It was only two miles to my house, but upon arrival I could
not help thinking that the boy must be ill, and having watched
the gate for some time to see if he passed by, I determined to
send for him.
Accordingly, I started off a couple of men with orders to carry
him up if he were sick.
They returned in little more than an hour, but the poor boy was
dead! - sitting crouched in the same position in which I had seen
him. He must have died of cold and starvation; he was a mere
skeleton.
I sent men to the spot, and had him buried by the roadside, and a
few days after I rode down to see where they had laid him.
A quantity of fresh-turned earth lay scattered about, mingled
with fragments of rags. Bones much gnawed lay here and there on
the road, and a putrid skull rolled from a shapeless hole among a
confused and horrible heap. The leopards had scratched him up
and devoured him; their footprints were still fresh upon the damp
ground.
Both leopards and chetahs are frequently caught at Newera Ellia.
The common trap is nothing more or less than an old-fashioned
mouse-trap, with a falling door on a large scale; this is baited
with a live kid or sheep; but the leopard is naturally so wary
that he frequently refuses to enter the ominous-looking building,
although he would not hesitate to break into an ordinary shed.
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