FAST AND PRESENT DISTRIBUTION OF THE LION IN ASIA. 35 



in Khuzistan Layard says that besides wolves, lions, leopards, bears 

 hyiBnas, jackals and other beasts of prey, various species of wild sheep 

 and goats are found in great numbers, and while living with the Bakhtiyari 

 near there he was present at a number of lion hunts. Of one of these he 

 writes " One afternoon when Mehemet Taki Khan was seated at the 

 doorway of his castle with the elders, a man arrived breathless and in 

 great excitement, declaring that in crossing the plain he had met with a 

 lion in his path. The beast, he said, was preparing to spring upon him 

 when he conjured it in the name of Ali to spare a poor unarmed man, who 

 never harmed any of his kin. Thereupon the lion being a good Musalmau 

 and a Shia to boot, as some lions are believed to be, turned away and 

 disappeared amongst the bushes. The man, ungrateful to the lion, offered 

 to conduct Mehemet Taki Khan to the spot. . . . ". Layard then o-oes on to 

 say how the man took them to a hollow covered with brushwootl, where 

 he said the lion was and on its being disturbed it sprang out at one of the 

 chief's followers, who wounded it with his long gun but did not kill it. 

 The lion then seized another follower and in doing so knocked down a 

 third. The situation, as can be imagined, was most critical and Layard 

 gives a delightful account of how the lion was killed. " Mehemet Taki 

 Khan himself " he says "jumped off his horse, and advancing towards the 

 beast addressed it thus in a loud voice : " O lion, these are not fit anta- 

 gonists for thee. If thou desired to meet an enemy worthy of thee 

 contend with me." The lion did not however appear to think that the 

 chief was better than any of the rest and did not let go of its prey, 

 so " the chief approached it and drawing the long pistol which he carried 

 in his girdle, fired at its head and the lion falling on the ground was 

 quickly despatched by the guns and swords of his, Mehemet Taki Khan's, 

 followers." This lion was an unusually large one and had a short black 

 mane. 



As a rule, Layard tells us, these lions seldom attack human beings, but 

 once, while on a hunting expedition, one of the party was carried off in 

 the night. They were sleeping in the open and the man was not missed 

 till, next morning, his remains were found close by ! In the plain of Ram 

 Hormuz, the flocks and herds of sheep and oxen belonging to the Bakhti- 

 yari suffered from the depredations of lions. On account of this, Layard 

 tells us, the Bakhtiyari used to place male buffaloes on the outskirts of their 

 encampments, since " It is said that the buffalo does not fear a lion, and v/ill 

 even drive it away," 



Between the years 1848 and 1849 Layard was at Nineveh and in his 

 book " Nineveh and Babylon " he writes " The lion as I have observed is 

 now rarely found on the banks of the Tigris as far north as Mosul, or even 

 above Bagdad. That it was originally an inhabitant, there can be no 

 doubt. From the earliest period it was considered the noblest of game, and 

 was included amongst the wild beasts preserved in the paradises, or parks, 

 attached to the royal palaces. On the monuments of Nineveh, the 

 triumphs of the King are deemed no less worthy of record than his victory 

 over his enemies." 



Of the distribution of the lion in Mesopotamia as a whole, Layard in the 

 abovementioned book says " The lion is frequently met with on the banks 

 of the Tigris below Bagdad, rarely above. On the Euphrates it has been 

 seen, I believe, almost as high as Bir, where the steamers of the first 

 Euphrates Expedition under Col. Chesney were launched. On the Sin jar, 

 and on the banks of the Khabour, they are frequently caught by Arabs. 

 They abound in Khuzistan, the ancient Susiana. I have frequently seen 

 three or four together and have hunted them with the chiefs of the tribes 

 inhabiting that province." 



