CHRONICLE. 



JANUARY. 



1. T ION HUNT, near Kaira, 

 I A Bombay. ( From the Bom- 

 bay Paper.) 



" The sporting gentlemen of this 

 station were, on the 22nd Dec. 

 informed that three lions had been 

 discovered in a small jungle, two 

 miles from Beereije. Immediate 

 preparations were made to assem- 

 ble a large party, and to proceed 

 to chase them from thence. In- 

 termediately, accounts were re- 

 ceived that the size and ferocity of 

 the animals had struck a panic into 

 the adjacent villages — that six of 

 the natives, who had unwarily ap- 

 proached their haunts, had been 

 torn, and mangled, and left to ex- 

 pire in the greatest agonies ; and 

 that it was no longer safe for the 

 inhabitants to proceed to the usual 

 occupations of husbandry, or to 

 turn out their cattle to pasture, as 

 several of them had been hunted 

 down and killed. These accounts 

 only stimulated the British Nim- 

 rods; and a party of 16 gentlemen 

 having assembled on the 24'th, pro- 

 ceeded to the scene of action, ac- 

 companied by a body of armed 

 peons from the Adaulet and Re- 

 venue departments. The guides 

 took them to the precise spot where 

 the three lions were reposing in 

 •t«te. The party advanced with 

 due caution to within a few paces 

 of the jungle, without dlBturbing 



Vol. LV. 



the residents. A momentary pause, 

 big with expectation, succeeded. 

 At that instant, three dogs which 

 had joined the hunt, unconscious 

 of danger, approached the very 

 threshold oi \X\e ■presence, and were 

 received with such a sepulchral 

 groan, as for a moment " made 

 the bravest hold his breath." One 

 of the dogs was killed, the other 

 two fled and were seen no more. 

 Presently, a lioness was indistinct- 

 ly observed at the mouth of the 

 den : a few arrows were discharged 

 with a view to irritate her, and in- 

 duce her to make an attack on her 

 assailants ; but this did not suc- 

 ceed, as she broke cover in an op- 

 posite direction, with two cubs 

 about two-thirds grown. The par- 

 ty pursued the fugitives on foot as 

 fast as the nature of the ground, 

 newly ploughed, would admit ; 

 when suddenly one of the men 

 who had been stationed in the 

 trees, called out to the gentlemen 

 to be on their guard. This arrest- 

 ed their progress. They turned on 

 one side to some heights, when 

 they descried an enormous lion, 

 which was approaching them 

 through an open field at an easy 

 canter, and lashing his tail in a 

 style of indescribable grandeur. 

 The foremost of the party pre- 

 sented iheir pieces, and fired just 

 as the animal had cleared, at one 

 bound, a chasm which was be- 

 tween them of 12 feet broatl. He 

 B 



