58 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



roar. I say for the first time, because in my superiority 

 I tell you that the grunting, short, peevish crying heard 

 in the great cat house at the Zoo at feeding-time cannot 

 be called roaring, after one has heard the wonderful 

 sound of His Majesty hunting. My heart seemed to 

 stand still with awe as I listened to that never-to-be- 

 forgotten sound. Terrific and majestic, it rever- 

 berated through the silence of the night, and seemed 

 to repeat itself in echoes when all was really still. 



The dawn is the time when lions roar most. They 

 occasionally give tongue when actually hunting, often 

 after feeding. The sound varies with the age and lung 

 power of the animal, and has many gradations, some- 

 times sounding as though the pain of doing it at all hurt 

 the throat, sometimes the sound comes in great abrupt 

 coughs, and again one hears even triumphant roars. 



We rose early. Indeed, I do not think we slept 

 again after hearing the longed-for serenade, and 

 arranging for all the hunters to accompany us, set off 

 on our new steeds to spoor for lion. After about six 

 miles of roughish going we struck the tracks. We 

 examined them with the greatest interest, and Clarence 

 demonstrated to us the evidence that the spoor was 

 very new indeed, that the lions were two in number 

 and going at a walking pace. I soon learnt when a 

 lion was walking and when he commenced to run. 

 The lion, being a cat, has retractile claws, and there- 

 fore when he walks the pugs are even and rounded. 

 The instant he alters the pace and runs, the nail- 

 marks are plain, and the sand is usually slightly furred 

 up by the pad. 



