MODE OF CATCHING LIONS. 
99 
and delivered the man from its clutches. Another 
time a large lion sprang up near his Majesty, who 
smote it with an arrow in the forehead. Another 
time a lion had seized a foot soldier, and every 
one despaired of his life ; hut the Emperor set him 
free by killing the lion with a matchlock. On an- 
other occasion, in the wilds, a lion moved towards 
him in such a terrible rage, that Shujahut Khan, who 
had advanced before his Majesty, lost his resolution ; 
but the King stood firm, holding the lion at defiance, 
when the animal through instinct, becoming frightened 
at Heaven’s favourite, turned about to escape, but was 
speedily killed with an arrow. But it is impossible for 
me, in my barbarous Hindoo dialect, to describe in fit 
terms the actions of this inimitable monarch.”* 
The same author gives the following curious account 
of the manner of entrapping the lion. “ They make 
a large cage, strengthened with iron, into which they 
put a kid in such a situation that the lion cannot 
come at it, without entering by the door which is left 
open. The cage is put in the place which the lion 
frequents, and when he enters to seize the kid, the 
door shuts upon him and he is taken : or an arrow is 
set in a bow of a green colour, which is fastened to 
the bough of a tree, and when the lion passes under it, 
the motion discharges the arrow and kills him. Or 
they fasten a sheep to the spot which he frequents 
and surround it with straw worked up with some 
glutinous substance, so that when the lion attempts to 
seize the sheep, his claws become entangled in the 
straw, upon which the hunters, issuing from their 
* Ayeen Akberry, vol. i. p. 296. 
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