The Lion 1567 



Arab camps and covered with flocks. He mentions one lion which killed, 

 in the course of time, one after another, the whole population of an Arab 

 douar, forty persons in all ! There were two ways in which the ordinary 

 Arabs killed lions — the ditch (zoubia) and the ambush (melbeda). The 

 zoubia is dug deep (about 10 feet), and 4 yards wide, and narrower at 

 the surface than at the base. The site was usually the midst of the camp 

 (douar), which was surrounded by a zereba. The live stock were so placed 

 that the lion, jumping over the zereba to reach them, landed in the ditch, 

 where he met with an ignominious death amidst the insults of the men and 

 the " lu lu lu " of the women. The melbeda corresponds to what East 

 African sportsmen know as a "lion zereba" for night-shooting, and is 

 simply a hole dug in the ground with a surrounding screen and protection, 

 and a dead or live bait placed close to it. When Arabs hunted the lion 

 by day, it was by posting a number of guns and driving the woods and hills. 



The Arabs have many names for the lion. Sba, ( ( -) Said, Houche, 

 Metalouf are perhaps the commonest, though I believe that wealthy 

 language boasts 696 other names for him ! We find amongst the natives, 

 and also in books, the repetition of that delusion which existed in South 

 Africa, and perhaps still exists amongst the Dutch, viz. that there are distinct 

 varieties, distinguished from each other by colour, size, and other attributes. 

 The Arabs consider there are three distinct kinds : el adrea, the black lion, 

 with black mane and dark body, smaller but more dangerous and stronger 

 than the other kinds ; el asfar, the yellow lion ; el zarzouri, the gray lion. 

 There is no foundation for this superstition, as a black and a yellow 

 cub have been found in the same litter. 



The Algerian lions often had magnificent manes, but there is no evidence 

 that they are of greater average size than other African lions. An average 

 adult lion will measure about 8 feet 3 inches from the tip of his nose to 

 the tip of his tail before being skinned, and stands about 3 feet 1 i inches 

 at the shoulder. It would seem from such evidence as is obtainable that 



