PAST AND PRESENT DISTRIBUTION OF THE LION IN ASIA. 37 



Sir Oliver St. John, in Blanford's Eastern Persia, volume 2, which was 

 published in 1876, writes that lions "are very numerous in the reedy- 

 swamps bordering the Tigris and Euphrates and are also found in the 

 plains of Susiana, the modern Khuzistan." At this date too, they were 

 also common in the country south of Shiraz as far east as longitude 53, but 

 how far north the lion existed, St. John was unable to say, though he had 

 definite information that they were not found north or west of Kerman- 

 shah*. In a certain valley west of Shiraz four or five adult lions used to 

 be killed every year, which shows that in Sir Oliver St. John's time they 

 must have been pretty common. 



Mr. Robertson, H. B. M. Consul at Bnsra, informed Sir Victor Brook in 

 1875, that lions were then plentiful on the Karun, and Dr. Morit, writing 

 on the Geology and Ethnology of Lower Mesopotamia, mentions that in 

 1888 lions were still numerous. 



About 1907 or 1909, Sultan Abdul Hamed presented to the Berlin Zoolo- 

 gical Gardens a full grown lion from Mesopotamia, but whether or not it 

 came from Mesopotamia proper is not mentioned. This appears to be 

 the last record for Mesopotamia, but in the adjoining country of Persia 

 Sir Percy Sykes tells us that in 1900t the hills around Kazerun between 

 Bushire and Shiraz were full of game " notably the maneless lion, which 

 haunt this locality," and ten years later| he wrote " lions still exist along 

 the banks of the rivers in Arabistan, but in very small numbers, I once saw 

 a dead one floating down the Karun being eaten by sharks." Apparently 

 this is the last authentic record of the lion in Mesopotamia, since Hubbard 

 in his book "From the Gulf to Arat," published in 1916, says that on 

 " the Karun it is now ten years or more since the last lion was seen 

 in this part of the world." Whether a few stragglers still exist in the 

 country between the Karun and Amara or near Kharbour remains to be 

 seen, but so far no member of the Expeditionary Force§ has been able to 

 give any definite information as to whether any are still to be found 

 though many have been asked, 



India. 



India. — There is no evidence to show that the lion inhabited Afghan- 

 istan or Baluchistan within historic times, but it was formerly found in 

 Sind,|i Bahawalpur and the Punjab, becoming extinct round Hariana, in 



» Dr. A. B. Meyer in " The Antiquity of the Lion in Greece "' mentions Khau- 

 rism as a locality in which the lion was found. This is on the strength of a 

 statement in a book called " A Narrative of a Journey from Herat to Khiva, 

 Moscow and St. Petersbiirg-h" by Abbott. 



The book was published in 1843 and in the appendix at the end of volume two 

 the lion is mentioned, along with the tiger, leopard and bear, as occurring- in 

 Khaurism, now spelt Khorassan, the country between the Caspian and Afghanis- 

 tan, Xo other traveller as far as I have been able to find out, confirms this 

 statement. 



t Ten thousand miles in Persia, 1900, p. 319. 



t The Field, 1910, -p. G25. 



§ In an official publication on Mesopotamia published in 1916 it is stated ttiat 

 a t'ew lions may be met with near Kharbour and on the borders of Persia. 



II Blanford, F.B.I. Mammalia, includes Khandesh within the range, but accord- 

 ing to the Bombay Gazetteer for Khandesh, published in 1880, this is not certain 

 and in a footnote it is stated that " whether lions were formerly found in 

 Khandesh seems doubtful."' Reference is made to an article which appeared m 

 the Oriental Sporting Magazine on "Lion Hunting in Khandesh," but, as it is 

 pointed out. this article refers to Guzerat and not to Khandesh. Lions certainly 

 have not been found in Khandesh since 1818, as special enquiries have been made, 

 and there would seem to be no record of lion shooting in Khandesh since tne 

 beginning of British rule." 



