ARAB FASHION OF HUNTING THE UON. 41 



agreed upon, which signals, although totally incomprehensi- 

 ble to the Europeans who do not have the key, are very 

 simple to the natives. When the spies have reached the 

 points that they are to occupy, the rest of the troop, with 

 the trackers at the head, ascend the declivities that intervene 

 between them and the place where the lion has hid himself. 

 As the lioness accompanied with her cubs, or the young 

 lions, do not follow the same course of defence when attacked, 

 as the old lion, and each require a different description, we 

 will assume the lion in question to be an old male, because 

 he is more difficult to be killed, and more dangerous in bat- 

 tle than the young lions, and even than a lioness with cubs. 



It is true that in hunting, an animal properly attacked is 

 almost always killed or captured, but it is equally true that 

 the hunter's success depends in this case, in addition to divers 

 other causes, principally upon the manner of the attack. 

 When following a hound, the hunter has only to fear lest the 

 animal should take the wind and flee ; but the man who is 

 endeavoring to track a lion, as one may well imagine, has a 

 hundred reasons for keeping at a distance from the rock or 

 the hill under which the animal has crouched, and thus 

 it is that he is rarely able to designate the exact spot where 

 the beast is crouched. 



The hunters, after arriving within gun-shot of the supposed 

 lair, climb the side of the mountain as silently as possible, 

 and come to a halt as soon as they overlook the cover. As 

 the lion's sense of hearing is very quick, it oftens happens 

 that he catches the sound of a foot-fall, or the rolling of a 

 stone, and. then he rouses himself and marches in the direc- 



