142 SPORT IN THE EASTERN SUDAN 



paces further on, in the mouth of the khor where I 

 had seen the track of the lion, we found Spots lying 

 dead. He proved to be a smallish male, length 

 6 feet 5 inches, weight 82 Ibs., though none the less 

 welcome for his insignificant proportions. The rest 

 of the day was spent attending to the leopard-skin. 

 In the afternoon I tried my luck with the rod, 

 opposite the machan, but did not get even a bite, 

 and lost a flight of hooks. In the evening I tied up 

 a kid and sat in the machan ; but, in spite of the kid 

 calling well, nothing was stirring in the neighbour- 

 hood, though a lion roared some half-mile down 

 the stream. I then tied the corpse of the goat killed 

 by the leopard to the peg, and returned to dinner 

 at 7 p.m. a most unlucky meal as things turned out. 

 January 21th. On returning to the machan to 

 spend the night I at once noticed a strong smell of 

 flesh, and on reaching the dead goat found that 

 whilst I had been eating my dinner some animal had 

 literally torn the goat to pieces, nothing remaining 

 but the head, neck, and some ribs. Further investiga- 

 tion showed that the animal in question was the lion, 

 who had presumably come along as soon as I left for 

 dinner, and was no doubt still in the immediate 

 neighbourhood. I at once tied up the spare goat 

 which I had brought in view of such a contingency, 

 and got into the machan; but the coming and 

 going of lights appeared to have been too much for 



