64: SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



Personally I consider the use of live baits the most 

 fascinating method of compassing the destruction of 

 the great cats, and that even pigsticking fails to 

 produce the same excitement as when the hunter sees 

 the gaze of the picketed animal concentrate itself upon 

 some particular point in the undergrowth to him 

 invisible, where the mighty quarry has at last shown 

 itself prior to the final rush upon its victim. Nor 

 does the sport appear to me to be unduly cruel, for 

 animals have very little imagination, and all felines 

 generally kill their prey with extraordinary quick- 

 ness. In the Sudan the usual baits for lions are 

 sheep, goats, or donkeys, and for leopards kids. A 

 dog is not at all a bad bait for a cunning leopard that 

 refuses kids, but dogs in the Sudan are scarce, and 

 probably valued by their owners. Also it is un- 

 deniably cruel to tie up a dog, as he perfectly under- 

 stands the motive, makes every effort to release 

 himself, and goes into perfect paroxysms of terror. 

 Goats and kids are the handiest animals to march 

 about with, and the prospective lion-hunter will do 

 well to invest in a small flock at one or two dollars 

 apiece, and engage a goatherd at a shilling a day to 

 look after them. If the same animal is tied up night 

 after night, it comes to accept the situation as a 

 matter of course, and often refuses to bleat, which is 

 annoying when one is certain that there is a lion in the 

 immediate vicinity. It is possible to compel a re- 



