36 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



When making excavations at NiSer near Kama, Lay arc! frequently saw 

 lions and he says that " The Midian Arabs boast of capturing them in the 

 following manner, and trustworthy persons assure me that they have seen 

 the feat performed. A man, having bound his right arm with strips of 

 tamarisk, and holding in his hand a short piece of the same wood, about a 

 foot or more in length, hardened in the lire and sharpened at both ends, 

 will advance into the animals lair. When the animal springs upon him, 

 he forces the wood into the animals extended jaws, which will then be 

 held open whilst he can dispatch the astonished beast at his leisure with 

 the pistol he holds in his left hand." 



The Bedouins and Jebours, in Layard's time, used frequently to find lion 

 cubs in the spring at Khabour and at Hillah. On his first visit to the 

 last mentioned place Layard was presented with a pair of lions by Osman 

 Pasha. These two lions appear to have been very tame and were allowed 

 the run of the town, in the same way as sacred cows are allowed in this 

 country. As the behaviour of these lions is rather amusing, I give Layard's 

 description in full. " One was nearly of full size, and was well known in 

 the bazaars and thoroughfares of Hillah, through which he was allowed to 

 wander unrestrained. The inhabitants could accuse him of no other 

 objectionable habit than that of taking possession of the stalls of the but- 

 chers, who, on his approach made a hasty retreat leaving him in undisturb- 

 ed possession of their stores, until he had satisfied his hunger and departed. 

 He would also wait the coming of the large kuftas, or wicker boats of the 

 fishermen and driving away the owners help himself to a kind of a large 

 barbel, of which he appeared to have a decided relish. When no longer 

 hungry he would stretch himself in the sun, and allow the Arab boys to 

 take such liberties with him as in their mischief they might devise. He 

 was taller and larger than a St. Bernard dog, and, like the lion found 

 generally on the banks of the rivers of Mesopotamia, was without the dark 

 and shaggy mane of the African species. The other lion was a cub, and 

 had recently been found by an Arab in the Hindeyah Marshes." 



Loftus, who travelled in Chaldea and Susiana about 1849-50, while 

 encamped near Sinkara killed two lion cubs and frequently heard lions 

 roaring. He also says that at this date lions were to be found at Susa 

 near Dizful in Khuzistan. (Travels and Researches in Chaldea and 

 Susiana.) 



The lion existed in Upper Mesopotamia to a much later date than any 

 already given, and in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1880 

 Durnford writes that " Sheik Muslapha also informed him that five years 

 ago a lion appeared near Biledjik* and after destroying many horses was 

 done to death." In 1885 Cannon Tristram in his " Fauna and Flora of 

 Palestine " says " the latest trace being that a few years ago the 

 carcass of one was brought into Damascus" adding that "it is still 

 common in Mesopotamia though rare in India." Still later Sir Alfred 

 Pease, in his "Book of the Lion," published three years ago, remarks on 

 the status of the lion in Upper Mesopotamia as follows: "I find in my 

 notes on the Fauna of Asia Minor made during a journey in 1891, the 

 following :— The lion is no longer found in Asia Minor, but exists in Meso- 

 potamia and Arabistan, between Poelis, west of Aleppo, and Deyr, and in 

 the Euphrates valley, where it frequents impenetrable thickets growing 

 in places along the banks and in the islands in the river ; it is also found 

 in the lower part of the Karun river but is nowhere plentiful." Unfor- 

 tunately there is nothing to show how this information was obtained and 

 whether it was from direct occurrences or simply what the Arabs reported. 



* This is probably Biredjic, of the Times atlas, on the Euphrates north east of 

 Aleppo. 



