Somali 



dead one had disappeared. In five minutes we 

 were off, and a two-hours' ride brought us to the 

 scene of the last night's kill. Fairly fresh lion 

 spoor was crossing and recrossing everywhere, but 

 so confusedly that it was impossible to tell how 

 many lions there were or to determine their where- 

 abouts. The horseman had not actually seen a 

 lion that morning, and we were inclined to think 

 the tracks had been made during the night and 

 some hours previous to dawn. We soon found 

 where the carcass had been, while a broad mark 

 in the sand showed where it had been dragged 

 into the bushes. The lions were evidently hungry 

 and savage, hence their cannibalism and their 

 previous attack on the thickly populated karia. 

 The dead lion had been dragged into a densely 

 tangled thicket. There was nothing to be done 

 but to crawl down the tunnel made by the passage 

 of the lions and their dead brother, with the 

 prospect of meeting an unlimited number at any 

 turn. I really was glad to reach the scene of the 

 cannibal banquet, and to find the banqueters gone 

 nothing but a few bones left. There was still 

 a chance of their having lain up after their meal 

 in the bushes close by, and here our horsemen 

 displayed great pluck ; shouting and waving their 

 spears, they galloped into bush after bush till their 

 ponies could force their way no further, but all to 

 no purpose. Eventually we, hunters, horsemen 



in 



