THE LION COUNTRY 



pass ! " If the lion is in a good temper, it is all right, 

 and the Kafir continues his way. But if the king of 

 the forest is in a bad humour, the Kafir turns round 

 and takes another way, unless he climbs a tree, at the 

 risk of spending the night there. 



In short, this sojourn by the Sungwe will remain 

 one of the most vivid of my memories. The thousands 

 of animals, scattered over the arid plains, the flocks 

 of wading, web-footed, and many other kinds of birds 

 which fly over at sunrise to feed ; the peaceful, solemn, 

 yet imposing landscape, bounded on the blue horizon 

 by the mountains of Gorongoza and Chiringoma ; 

 all these things will remain graven on my memory. 

 There are also other scenes which I shall always recall 

 with joy : the camp-fires, surrounded by roasting 

 meat with the Kafirs squatting close by, joyful after 

 a hearty meal, laughing and chatting, and relating with 

 excited gesture and raised voices the hunting experi- 

 ences of the day. The reflection of the flames, fighting 

 up their black faces with a red glow, giving a peculiar 

 touch to the scene. There is even poetry in the 

 silence following this gossip. The moonlight turns 

 the yellow grass and white sand on which it grows to 

 silver ; yonder is heard the melancholy howl of the 

 hyaena, while a couple of jackals yelp in another 

 direction. Just before dawn the lions begin to roar 

 loudly, the jackal growls with satisfaction over the 

 offal left him by the king of the forests, the birds 

 twitter, the doves begin to coo, the little quails call 



(121) 



