ESSAFI- GIVES ME AN EASY SHOT AT A LION. 277 



been drawn yesterday into a shallow part by the Arabs. 

 From a high bank under shelter of some trees, about 

 fifty yards from the lion, I was able to take a steady 

 quiet shot at him without being observed ; and as he 

 was half facing me with his side (the right) only partially 

 exposed, I calculated that the most fatal spot would be 

 the lower part of the neck on that side, hoping that 

 from my elevation the bullet would take an oblique 

 course into the chest and reach the heart. My ana- 

 tomical calculations bore no practical fruit, for with a 

 loud roar the lion sprang up, and in a moment dis- 

 appeared up the bank as if he had not been touched. 

 The old business now commenced, but though tracking 

 a lion in the low valleys is a very easy matter, it is quite 

 the reverse on some of the stony hills bordering them 

 here, where the pad leaves no mark, and when the blood- 

 track ceases to be found. So it happened in this in- 

 stance, and after great perseverance Essafi was obliged 

 to give it up. We were ascending a hill at the time, and 

 no sooner had he said the word ' mafeesh ' than our lost 

 friend, giving a low growl, sprang out of a big bush just 

 over the crest of the hill, and had quite disappeared 

 when we reached the top. He had been resting in an 

 old haunt, and a patch of blood showed that he was 

 wounded. It was now time to return home, and Essafi 

 gave me the usual comforting information of our hunters 

 that the lion would be found ' bookra ' (to-morrow). We 



