48 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



devoting a separate chapter to shooting the Felidae 

 over baits, so will not here enlarge on that subject. 

 Otherwise, lions may occasionally be secured by fair 

 tracking, though it is a long business, and the 

 trackers must be first-rate. I have also heard of them 

 being stalked up to whilst roaring, a pastime to which 

 they are exceedingly addicted, and I know of no more 

 thrilling sound than the call of a lion to its companion, 

 seeming always to express to me the very soul of 

 loneliness. They may also be met with totally by 

 chance in the early morning or towards evening, 

 when looking for game along the banks of the rivers. 

 I believe that man-eating lions are totally unknown 

 in the Sudan, and there seemed to me to be con- 

 siderable justification for the dictum of Sir Samuel 

 Baker that the Sudanese lion is deficient in courage. 

 My own bag consisted of seven lionesses bagged, and 

 two lions and one lioness wounded and lost; and I 

 found the wounded animals travel very long distances, 

 and hesitate considerably before attacking one. 

 However, nobody can shoot lions without adventure, 

 and my journal shows that I had my share. In the 

 Eastern Sudan no lion carries a good mane, owing to 

 the persistent combing of the thorn-bushes, and they 

 are all deficient in size, possibly because they feed 

 mainly on goats and ariel. But they make up 

 in numbers for any lack of quality, and on the Rahad, 

 at least, any sportsman who neglects to build a stout 



