ADVICE TO THE AMATEUR LION HUNTER. 149 



CHAPTER X. 



ADVICE TO THE AMATEUR LION HUNTER. 



Reader, if you are a hunter, it has probably often hap- 

 pened after a good dinner with a merry company, when each 

 one has killed or massacred from quails to wild boars, after 

 the manner of true carpet knights, that you have desired to 

 meet face to face a nobler and more dangerous enemy than 

 any to be found in your native forests ; and you have said, 

 like many others, I would like to kill a lion : perhaps you 

 have gone even further, and said, I could easily kill a lion. 



Very well ! will you try in earnest to kill one of these* 

 interesting beasts ? If the desire is in your heart, and not on 

 your lips, I can satisfy you by showing you my secret. 



But first of all, see if the desire is not a mere whim ; 

 examine yourself well, and if you are sure of yourself, then 

 set about it. 



You are young, vigorous, in health, with good limbs, and 

 a true eye ; these physical conditions are indispensable ; in 

 regard to the moral, you must have a love for the beautiful, 

 and an iron will. 



If you do not live in Paris, go there, seek Devisme, the 

 gunsmith, ask for a double-barrel rifle; tell him what you 



