NOTES ON SOMALILAND. 287 
The soil was soft and sandy—excellent for tracking—but the going was 
slow owing to the vagaries of the lions, who behaved in the most erratic and 
frivolous way. It almost seemed as if they knew they were being tracked 
and were laying themselves out to confound us, They would walk in com- 
pany for a few yards, then they would separate and describe mazy circles to 
the flanks ; then they would join forces again and have a gambol together, 
and then perhaps take a short siesta as shown by the imprint of their forms 
in the bare sand, After regaining their breath and composure they would 
wander on once more, sedately but aimiessly, till some feckless Digdig or 
Gerenuk discovered itself, when one of the pair would try his luck with a 
short burst in pursuit, On these occasions, like the Hunting Cheetahs of 
our Indian Rajahs, they seemed to give up the chase at once if their bolt was 
shot without immediate success 3 in spite of the fact,in this case, that they 
were apparently very hungry, and were finally driven to make the best of 
what I should think was very unusual fare for them. 
About an hour before coming into view, which we did after three hours 
walking, the track of a small leopard struck the path, and the lions had 
apparently changed direction and followed it, The “pugs’’ soon led into 
thick grass and bushes, and presently the footprints of the leopard ceased 
altogether, the lions reverting to their old track, We had not gone much 
further, however, when the trail took us into the shade of a dense laurel bush, 
and there the story of poor little “Spot's” disappearance was unfolded 
to us, The couple had caught and eaten him, and not a morsel remained ex- 
cept the part of the jaws containing the teeth, and the four paws! They had 
evidently caught him just before daybreak, as the rejected scraps just men- 
tioned were still damp with the moisture of their mouthings, and moreover 
within the next half-mile I put them both up together, bagging the lioness 
who broke towards me, but missing the lon, who unfortunately bounded 
away in the opposite direction. She proved to be a fine lioness in the prime 
of life, and her intestines were full of the skin and meat of the leopard_ 
The male, which Dr, Donaldson-Smith subsequently bagged, was the same 
which I have previously spoken of as having returned and feasted on the dead 
body of his wife. They must have been an odd couple with strangely 
cannibal tastes, 
THE LEOPARD, 
(Felis pardus), 
Leopards are very common all over Somaliland ; there is scarcely a village 
that does not involuntarily maintain one or more of these expensive “ hangers- 
on,” but one hardly ever gets an opportunity of trying conclusions with them 
in the daytime, and the only other way of getting at them, sitting in a village 
zareeba over a live goat, is an amusement that very soon palls upon me, and 
Tf have nothing interesting to chronicle on the subject of this animal. 
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