THE LION 245 



could find no signs of dislocation. When I shot the lion he 

 disgorged in his dying struggles large pieces of buffalo skin, 

 pieces of liver, entrails, and clots of blood, and his stomach was 

 blown out to almost bursting point with a further accumulation 

 of entrails, liver, blood, and pieces of flesh and skin, besides 

 a piece of heart so large that it is a wonder that he managed 

 to get it down. The zebra that I found about two hours after 

 it had been killed by a lion and lioness, which latter I shot 

 after a long hunt, had absolutely no marks on it to show how 

 it had been killed. One ear had been bitten off, and its hind- 

 quarters and hocks were torn and lacerated as if gashed by a 

 knife, the cuts being so clean, but there were no marks on the 

 throat or back of the neck. With the exception of a small 

 piece of entrail lying on the ground, which had the appearance 

 of having been chewed, the whole of the inside and the soft flesh 

 and skin of the stomach were gone ; the rest was untouched. 



In the extensive game countries of Masailand and 

 Turkwel, a district in the Suk country, lions are very plentiful, 

 and may be heard at night ; but though undoubtedly numerous 

 it is quite by chance that they are met with. The greatest 

 number seen at one time by myself and Dr. Mackinnon was 

 twenty-three. This troop was seen near Machako's, in 

 Ukambani, on August 7, 1890. It consisted of three lions with 

 splendid dark manes, five or six lionesses and the rest cubs 

 from three parts grown down to the size of a fox terrier. 

 Another large troop of eleven was seen near Rombo, to the 

 east of Kilimanjaro, by Mr. T. W. H. Greenfield in 1888. 

 Perhaps the best guides to the whereabouts of a lion are 

 vultures. Should these birds be seen soaring high up in the 

 air, gradually getting lower and lower, and finally going off in 

 a bee line, the sportsman should certainly follow them, as it is 

 a sure sign that they have detected the carcase of a dead beast. 

 If, however, as he proceeds in the direction they have taken, 

 sees the vultures, marabou storks, &c., sitting in trees, or circling 

 round a few hundred feet up in the air, in the event of there 

 being no trees, it is a pretty certain sign that a beast of prey is 



