With Flashlio-ht and Rifle -^ 



prey upon them. I have found the fresh remains of 

 jackals lying about after the lion's feeding-time. A too 

 bold comi)anion of the monarch had evidently fallen a 

 victim to his venturesomeness. 



Generally speaking, however, jackals roam about the 

 velt alone in search of their food, the steady breezes 

 of equatorial Africa helping them to scent out a carcase 

 at an immense distance. 



If I laid out a bait in a certain place, it was sure not 

 to be very long before one or more jackals came peering 

 very cautiously out of the darkness. 



Nothing gives a more vivid impression of the quickly 

 changing life in the equatorial velt than the rapid 

 decomposition of the gigantic carcase of an elephant. 

 One day the great beast lies before us in all its huge 

 size ; the next its bodv is chanQ^ed out of all recognition. 

 And the hyccnas and jackals will have already made their 

 raid in the night. Hundreds of vultures will have settled 

 on the neighbourino^ trees, or have beoun to feast on the 

 carcase. Round about the grass is trodden under, and 

 all whitened with their droppings. During the following 

 night almost the whole of the gigantic carcase will have 

 been consumed bv the united forces of the hy:enas and 

 jackals. It is in the early morning hours that the vultures 

 are most busy. In a very short time nothing remains but 

 the scabby hide and the huge skeleton. 



The next rainy season softens the remains of the 

 hide, so that it can be consumed entirely by hycenas 

 and jackals. Now only the broken bones remain on the 

 ground. A velt conflagration, perhaps, and the gradual 



464 



