138 KATHIAWAR LION SIR GEORGE CLARKE 



covered with bushes that resemble dried-up 

 mimosa, very plentifully furnished with sharp 

 thorns. Such trees as exist are few and far be- 

 tween. 



It is owing to the lions having for centuries 

 forced their way through this thorn-covered bush 

 that their mane (incessantly torn off) has ceased 

 to grow. I understand that there is a district 

 in Africa where the lions carry little or no mane 

 from the same cause. 



It fell to my lot to be in India when a " criminal 

 lion " came in evidence, and it was my good-fortune 

 that my sojourn in the East synchronised with 

 that of so sympathetic and generous-minded a 

 Governor of Bombay. 



I had always longed to complete my list of the 

 big game of India, but I had given up all hope of 

 filling up the lion gap, when Sir George one day 

 said to me: " I can and will give you what no one 

 else in the world can give you a Kathiawar lion." 

 And he kept his word. 



On April 15 th I started for Kathiawar State, and 

 I shall not easily forget the journey there and 

 back. 



It is not a season when sane people travel across 

 the plains of India, and I had two Indian servants 

 down with heat apoplexy on the return journey. 



On the 1 6th I reached Viramgam and proceeded 

 by narrow-gauge railway in the most terrific heat, 

 passing Rajkot and through a badly famine - 

 stricken district. The cattle seemed to have all 

 died off and I believe the human mortality had 

 been somewhat heavy. 



Kathiawar, which once formed part of the old 



