of the Old World. 465 



the heat of their bodies when I arrived, and unmis- 

 takeable* signs showed they had been there very 

 lately ; but the noise made by the Arabs, who would 

 talk among themselves, in spite of my remonstrance, 

 scared them away. 



I tracked them through dense wood for a short 

 distance, when my olfactories informed me that a 

 putrid carcass was not far oftj and, guided by the 

 smell, I made my way through the underwood, and 

 came across the dead body of a young lion, some- 

 thing more than a year old. It bore the marks (as 

 a coroner would say) of a violent death, for the neck, 

 chest, and belly were gashed and ripped open as if 

 with a knife. On examining the ground round about, 

 I found the footprints of a large boar, who had 

 evidently intruded into the lair and killed " the 

 youthful scion of the Royal House," though not 

 without a violent struggle, for the grass and herbage 

 was trodden down, and bore the marks of a severe 

 fight. I cut off the fore-lock and some claws, and 

 made the Arabs cut off the head. It was too far 

 gone to skin. 



I then returned to the head of the ravine, where 

 there were several old marks of the lions having fre- 

 quently passed, and constructed a kind of rifle-pit, 

 which I concealed with branches of trees, at a point 

 which commanded two paths, on both of which I 

 could perceive lion-pugs. Here I remained all night, 



2 ii 



