48 
THE LION. 
priving her of her progeny, or should she meet him 
whilst bearing them away, the chances are he will 
have to pay dearly for his temerity. 
In Northern Africa, again, where, from the ravages 
the lion commits amongst the herds of the natives, 
every man’s hand is against him, and he, in con¬ 
sequence, is rendered more than usually savage, the 
act of robbing the lioness of her whelps—one of 
somewhat common occurrence—is rendered doubly 
hazardous. The manner of proceeding on these 
occasions is, Gerard tells us, as follows :— 
“ The situation of the lair having been ascer¬ 
tained, the movements of the mother are watched 
by a scout from a neighbouring tree or high rock, 
and when she is seen to absent herself from the 
den, an Arab glides into it, and, after wrapping his 
burnous around the cubs to stifle their cries, he 
carries them away; a horseman is commonly near 
at hand, who places the captives before him, and 
rides off at speed. 
“ But thus to deprive the lioness of her young,” 
Gerard goes on to say, ££ is very perilous, and often 
attended with fatal results in proof of which he 
cites the following instance :— 
£C During the month of March, 1840, a lioness 
deposited her cubs in a wood called ‘ El Guela,’ 
situated in the mountains of Mezioun. The chief 
of the country, Zeiden, made application for assist¬ 
ance to Sedek-ben-Oumbark, sheik of the tribe 
Beni-Fourraz, his neighbour; and at the appointed 
day thirty men from each of these tribes assembled 
in the defile of Mezioun at first dawn. 
