ARAB FASHION OF HUNTING THE LION. 35 



into small pieces, and each mother of a family receives' a 

 piece to give to her sons, in order to make them strong and 

 courageous. They pull out the hair from his mane to 

 braid into amulets for the same purpose ; and then after the 

 skin has been taken off, and the flesh divided among all the 

 people present, each family goes to its tent, where, when the 

 evenings are long, the events of the day will form the theme 

 of many a tale and children's lullaby. 



After the pit, the next manner of destroying the lion is the 

 melbeda, which signifies in our language, a hiding-place, and 

 of which there are two kinds, the melbeda in the earth, 

 and the melbeda in the trees. 



For the first sort of hiding-place, a hole is dug in the 

 earth of about a yard in depth, and three or four in width. 

 After covering it with the trunks of trees, and heavy 

 stones, the earth that was taken from the hole is piled on 

 the roof, two or three port-holes are cut in one end from 

 which to point the guns, and a door-way in the other, 

 which can be closed with a large stone from within. These 

 kinds of blinds are built along a path generally travelled 

 by the lion. As it would be difficult to take good aim 

 on the animal while walking, a wild hog is killed and placed 

 in the path at the proper distance in front of the port-holes, 

 and at the moment when the lion stops to smell the dead body, 

 the hunters fire altogether. It is seldom that he is killed on 

 the spot. Generally after receiving the balls of his adversaries, 

 he rushes with tremendous bounds in the direction of the 



