TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 75 



I was using the heavy 12-bore, but I kept my fingers 

 on the rear trigger as we advanced cautiously to the 

 dropped lion. He crumpled up like a toy with the 

 mainspring broken, and sank as he finished his last 

 spring with his massive head between his paws — a 

 majestic and magnificent sight. 



I measured him previous to the skinning operation 

 and, stretched out, from his nose to the end of his tail 

 he touched seven feet ten and a half inches. Of 

 course this was before rigor-mortis had set in, and he 

 may have stretched a little. His mane was shorter than 

 our other damaged lion trophy, and entirely clear from 

 the patches of mange we found on one or two other 

 lions we bagged. But he was infested with ticks. I 

 should think life must have been an irritating affair for 

 him. 



We were immensely set up, and only regretted that 

 the lioness had made good her escape. One of the 

 most extraordinary features about lions to me is the 

 way so large an animal can obliterate itself ; they sim- 

 ply blend into the landscape. Their brownish-yellow 

 skins, so similar in colour to the burnt grass, and their 

 agile bodies, which can crouch and wriggle like any 

 lizard, play parts in the scheme for invisibility. On 

 one occasion Cecily and I surprised a lion in a small 

 nullah. (We were a trifle astonished ourselves, too, 

 but that is a detail.) We ran in pursuit, being out of 

 range, and though we kept our eyes fixed on him, or 

 thought we did, that lion seemed to disappear as sud- 

 denly as though the earth had swallowed him up. 

 Then Clarence pointed out to us a patch of brown 



