354 
MAMMALIA. 
suffered tlie most, lie alone had lost the large number of twenty- 
nine Oxen, forty-five Sheep, and several Mules and Mares. It is 
necessary, however, to mention that this unfortunate individual 
had fixed his abode in the least inhabited part of the district, 
and which really appeared more made for Lions than men. If 
we figure to ourselves a corner of arable ground on the slope of 
the most thickly wooded and rugged mountain, where the sun 
never penetrated, we have an idea of the locality where Lakdar 
had taken up his residence. I ought to add, however, that he 
had before his tent a garden planted with fruit trees, and a spring 
which yielded delicious water — natural resources that all the gold 
in the world could not, in an Arab’s estimation, surpass. It was 
for this reason Lakdar was able to support, with the courage of a 
stoic, the ravages inflicted on him by the decimator of his herds. 
“ On my arrival at my host’s, I was greeted as a saviour. I 
found the douar surrounded by a hedge six feet high, and about 
four feet thick ; this the Lion, to obtain his supper, jumped over 
nearly every night. I passed several consecutive evenings watch- 
ing without seeing the hungry visitor. In the daytime I care- 
fully examined all the neighbouring haunts, but without success. 
‘“You see,’ said Lakdar to me, ‘ it is sufficient for you to 
appear and the enemy vanishes ; but as soon as you go away, 
he will return, and then my last Ox, my brother, my wife, even 
my child, will all be carried off ! ’ 
“ ‘ You must marry among us, and never more go away,’ 
chimed in Lakdar’s wife,. ‘We will search out for you the 
prettiest maids of the mountain — Gazelles in form and Doves in 
affection ; choose two or three ; the tribe will give you a fine tent, 
and flocks and herds, and we shall all be happy, for we shall have 
peace.’ 
“ This example of the animosity of the Lion against a single 
douar, or even a single tent, is not rare 
“ . . . . On the evening of the 26th August, while sitting in 
the garden observing an old Boar wallowing, Lakdar came and 
told me that his black Bull had not returned with the herd, 
and that at day-break he would search for its remains. 
“ The next morning, on waking up, I found my host near me. 
His face was overspread with joy. 
Come,’ he exclaimed, ‘ I have found it ! ’ 
l 
