SHOOTING FROM THE " MELBIDA." 100 



until late in tlio morning, and when the moon rose 

 late, they drank at a very early hour of the night. 

 By this acute system many a grisly lion saved his 

 bacon, and is now luxuriating in the forests of South 

 Africa, which had otherwise fallen to the barrels of 

 my trusty ' Westley Richards.' ' 



In Northern Africa the lion, according to Gerard, 

 is also shot in the night time, and that from the 

 Nt'lbldn, signifying a place of refuge, which he thus 

 describes : 



" It consists," he says, " of a hole dug in the 

 ground, of some three or four metres in length, by 

 one in depth, which hole is covered over witli logs 

 of wood ; and above these, again, are piled the 

 earth that has been thrown up in making the ex- 

 cavation. At the end of the ' melbida ' facing the 

 pathway, are five or six loop-holes for guns, and 

 at the other end is a small aperture to admit tho 

 chasseurs, which is afterwards closed by a large 

 stone. As it would be difficult to take aim at the lion 

 when merely passing the ' melbida,' the Arabs are 

 accustomed to place a hog, slaughtered for the pur- 

 pose, in the pathway in front of the loopholes, and 

 when the beast halts to smell at the carcass, the 

 men fire simultaneously. 



" It is seldom the lion is killed outright ; most 

 commonly, he, on receiving the balls, bounds in 

 the direction of, and over the 'melbida,' little sus- 

 pecting that the enemy he seeks lies concealed be- 

 neath his feet. Afterwards, and when his strength 

 is exhausted by ferocious bounds on all sides, he 

 makes for the nearest thicket." 



