30 ZOOLOGY OF INDIA. 



the beautiful courser bedews the shaggy mane of this relent- 

 less and insatiate foe. 



The elephant is found to be the only efficient coadjutor 

 in the pursuit of this noble game. " But of all the diversions 

 of the field," says Bernier, "the hunting of the lion is not 

 only the most perilous, but it is peculiarly royal ; for, except 

 by special permission, the king and the princes are the only 

 persons who engage in the sport. As a preliminary step, 

 an ass is tied near the spot where the gamekeepers have 

 ascertained the lion retires. The wretched animal is soon 

 devoured, and after so ample a meal the lion never seeks for 

 other prey, but, without molesting either oxen, sheep, or 

 shepherd, goes in quest of water, and after quenching his 

 thirst, returns to his former place of retirement. He sleeps 

 until the next morning, when he finds and devours another 

 ass, which the gamekeepers have brought to the same spot. 

 In this way they contrive, during several successive days, 

 to allure the lion, and to attach him to one place ; and when 

 information is received of the king's approach, they fasten 

 at the spot an ass where so many others have been sacrificed, 

 down whose throat a large quantity of opium has been 

 forced. This last meal is of course intended to produce a 

 soporific effect upon the lion. The next operation is to 

 spread, by means of the peasantry of the adjacent villages, 

 large nets, made on purpose, which are gradually drawn 

 closer in the manner practised in hunting nyi-ghaus. Every 

 thing being in this state of preparation, the king appears on 

 an elephant barbed with iron, and attended by the grand 

 master of the hunt, some omrahs mounted on elephants, 

 and a great number of gourse-berdars on horseback, and of 

 gamekeepers on foot, armed with half-pikes. He imme- 

 diately approaches the net on the outside, and fires at the lion 

 with a large rausketoon. The wounded animal makes a 

 spring at the elephant, according to the invariable practice 

 of lions, but is arrested by the net, and the king continues 

 to discharge his musketoon until the lion is at length killed."* 



The Asiatic Hon, it has been observed, seldom attains the 

 dimensions of the fall-grown individuals from Southern 

 Africa. Its colour is also more uniform and of a paler yel- 

 low, and its mane is in general fuller and more complete. 



* Travels, vol. ii. p. 115. 



