258 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. XXIX. 



heavily laden waggons clear of the formidable belt 

 of wooded hillocks which, intersected by deep 

 ravines, form the suburbs of the Cashan range. 

 In some places, the paths worn by the huge tenants 

 of this almost trackless region being too narrow, it 

 was found necessary to send a party of pioneers to 

 widen them — thus literally cutting our way through 

 the country, and making the aged, and hitherto 

 silent, forest ring to the unwonted sound of the axe. 

 Scarcely a day passed without our seeing two or 

 three lions, but, like the rest of the animal creation, 

 they uniformly retreated when disturbed by the 

 approach of man. However troublesome we found 

 the intrusions of the feline race during the nighty 

 they seldom, at any other time, showed the least 

 disposition to molest us, unless we commenced hos- 

 tilities ; and this, owing to the badness of the horses, 

 we rarely felt disposed to do. Returning one 

 afternoon with Maphook to a koodoo that I had 

 shot, in order to take up the head, which I had 

 concealed in a bush, I was surprised to find an enor- 

 mous lion * feasting upon the carcass; an odious 

 assemblage of eager vultures, as usual, garrisoning 

 the trees, and waiting their tin-n when the gorged 

 monarch should make way for them. Immediately 

 upon my appearance, he walked heavily off", ex- 

 pressing, by a stifled growl, his displeasure at being 

 thus unceremoniously disturbed at dinner. It was 

 not destined, however, that our acquaintance should 

 cease here ; for passing the scene of this introductory 

 * Felis Leo, Delineated in the African Views. 



