SHOOTING THE FELID.E OVER BAITS 73 



lids are of wood and string, and quite strong enough 

 for this purpose. Dried grass should be spread on the 

 machan, and over it the mattress, pillows, rugs, etc., 

 of the sportsman. It is impossible to lie still unless 

 one is comfortable, and absolute silence is a sine qua 

 non in this branch of sport. I cannot conceive that 

 one should wish to have a native companion in 

 sitting up in this fashion. I am aware that it is 

 often done, but I believe it to be the greatest mistake. 

 The average Arab is certain to make some sort of a 

 noise at a critical moment, and if the bait is tied up 

 securely there is not the least objection to going to 

 sleep, assuming, of course, that one does not snore, 

 or has not the habit of falling out of bed. On these 

 occasions one sleeps, as it were, on a hair-trigger, 

 and wakes up instantaneously with all one's senses 

 on the alert. Several times my ears told me that I 

 myself was the object of a stealthy reconnaissance, 

 and I was glad that nobody else was present who 

 might have precipitated matters by doing something 

 foolish. Mosquitoes are not generally troublesome 

 twenty feet from the ground, but if they are it is quite 

 easy to suspend an invisible green mosquito-net over 

 a well-built machan. Another article with which the 

 sportsman should provide himself is a small dry-cell 

 electric lamp of two or three candle-power. The 

 switch will then be under his hand, and the lamp 

 some ten or twelve feet from the bait, probably tied 



