LOSING A ' RIGHT-AND-LEFT' AT LIONS. 217 



below Emhagga, specially to search for lions, as it had 

 not been recently visited ; and directly after our arrival 

 there, when walking in a path through some high grass, 

 Essafi suddenly pulled up and whispered ' daabee ; ' 

 for a few seconds I could see nothing, until my eyes 

 rested upon the face of a lion flat on the ground con- 

 fronting us in our path and exactly the colour of the 

 grass, whilst no other portion of him was visible. The 

 distance between us being only from ten to fifteen yards, 

 I fired, and then beyond a portion of the face becoming 

 hidden by the grass no movement occurred, so I knew he 

 must be dead ; but Essafi thought otherwise, and to please 

 him I fired again at the only part visible, the nose. As 

 I did so, another lion stepped over the dead body and 

 disappeared, to my great annoyance, for I had foolishly- 

 omitted to reload before firing the second shot, and con- 

 sequently lost the chance of bagging a brace. The first 

 bullet (express) struck the forehead and smashed the skull, 

 and the second entering below the eye passed out under 

 the chin. It proved to be a splendid male, as to size, 

 though not grand-looking from being almost entirely 

 devoid of mane, as lions frequently are in this country. 

 From nose to tip of tail it measured nearly ten feet (115 

 inches), and from shoulder to extreme point of paw, forty- 

 five inches. When opened it was found to be as fat as 

 a prize ox, and every atom of this valuable commodity 

 was carefully collected and brought home with the skin 



