370 



UTILITARIAN ZOOLOGY 



it will be popular so long as lions continue to exist. Regarding 

 the antiquity and characteristics of the pursuit Selous makes the 

 following remarks (in The Sp07'ts of the World): — " Lion hunting 

 must undoubtedly be reckoned amongst the most ancient and 



Fig. 1262. — Kirghiz ^unting the Wolf with the Golden Eagle 



time-honoured of all field-sports, for ages and ages before the 

 days when Assyrian kings pursued the king of beasts for 

 pleasure, and shot him with bow and arrow from their light two- 

 wheeled chariots, the prehistoric races of man, inhabiting the 

 whole of Africa, as well as large areas in Asia and Europe, 

 must have hunted lions as a sporting necessity, in defence of 



