The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



I suppose I showed my incredulity in my face, 

 for Weddell at once said, " You wait until to- 

 morrow, and I will take you to the very tree, 

 and you will probably be able to verify this 

 thing for yourself." I looked forward, therefore, 

 to the morning. An early start with a walk of 

 perhaps a mile brought us to a sandy cutting 

 through two heavily reeded patches of country. 

 "There is the tree I was telling you about last 

 night," my guide said, and he and I went up to it. 

 There was plenty of fresh lion spoor in the sand. 

 We continually came upon fresh pugs, so that it 

 was evident that lions were fairly numerous in 

 this place. Arrived under the tree, I found a 

 small space denuded of reeds, what grass there 

 was had been trodden and trampled level with 

 the ground. I now proceeded to examine the 

 tree, and found, surely enough, that there were 

 any quantity of claw-marks up the bole of it, 

 which had a distinct tendency to be out of 

 perpendicular, in fact, it had quite a cant to one 

 side. My curiosity was now thoroughly aroused, 

 so I laid down my rifle and proceeded to climb 

 into the branches, which was a comparatively easy 

 thing to do. Here there was no mistaking the 

 evidence that some animals were in the habit 

 of lying out on one particular branch of the 

 tree, for it was deeply scored throughout its 

 length by claw-marks. I cannot say that I saw 

 a lion or lioness jump down from the tree, but 



no 



