THE KATRIAWAR LION. 739 



came upon the lion lying dead, which was a relief as I had 

 some difficulty in keeping the men quiet, and the Darbari sepoys 

 who would keep their muskets on full cock, were just as much a 

 source of danger as the wounded lion ! My 8-bore bullet had gone 

 clean through the lion, touching up its heart and lungs, in spite of 

 which it had managed to cover over 150 yards before falling. It 

 measured 9 feet 1 inch in length, carried a short mane and was 

 very fat. It was no good going after the second lion, as when once 

 disturbed, lions clear out of the neighbourhood. Hebat, the jpagi, 

 informed me that when the beaters got up to the lions under the 

 wadh tree, one of the latter was lying down, while the other one was 

 walking backwards and forwards. Owing to the shade they afford, 

 lions are very partial to these trees in the hot weather. I omitted 

 to mention that the " kill " was a buffalo. On my way back to 

 camp, I met the owner of the buffalo who informed me that it had 

 been done to death by three lions, but one of them had been seen 

 breaking away in the early morning. 



A few days later, I moved my camp to Sasan, about 12 miles 

 north of Talala, and the headquarters of the Gir Officials, whose 

 offices are contained, for the sake of safety, in a kind of miniature 

 fort on a commanding position. There is no village to speak of, 

 only a few woodcutters' and Rabaris' huts erected just outside the 

 fort walls. 



My pagis were out everyday, but up to the 29th May had not 

 succeeded in locating any more lions. In the meantime I had varied 

 hick with smaller game, such as sambur and spotted deer locally 

 known by the name of Pasu. The season was advancing ; there 

 had been some heavy rain, which was followed, as usual, by a good 

 deal of fever amongst my followers. Moreover, with fresh water 

 in all the nalas, the lions moved about more than they would 

 otherwise have done, and were in consequence difficult to mark 

 down ; so giving up all hope of another lion during this season, 1 

 issued instructions for an early move out of the Gir, when luck be- 

 friended me again on the following day — the 30th May. I had 

 arranged to stalk sambur and spotted deer in the Khokra jungles 

 between four and five miles due east of Sasan, and to finish up 

 with a drive for anything that would turn up in the middle of 



