HUNTING IN TE00PS. 
95 
We contemplated this scene for more than an hour, 
in which these kings of animals never compromised 
their dignity in the slightest degree. 5 ’ 
Though the lion, properly speaking, is not a 
gregarious animal, he is still, not unfrequently, 
met with in smaller or larger troops. Indeed, I 
myself have seen six or seven together, all of whom, 
so far as I could judge, were full grown, or nearly 
so ; and Freeman, after telling us that cc it w 7 as a lion 
country in which he was then travelling, but that 
none had attacked his party, or had even the 
curiosity to come to it,” goes on to say, “ A farmer, 
in passing lately the same road as ourselves, saw 
ten of those animals in company; and another had 
the gratification to count thirty, a sight that would 
have thrown Gordon Gumming into ecstasies, and 
many others into fits.” 
Lions, let people say wdiat they will to the 
contrary, hunt in companies ; and on these occa¬ 
sions, as will hereafter be shown, often display 
much subtlety and cunning, playing, as it were, 
into each others’ hands. In many instances, it is 
true, the troop simply consists of the several mem¬ 
bers of the same family, but in others, beyond all 
doubt, adult males and females congregate together 
for the better circumvention of their prey. 
On one occasion, indeed, two adult lions and a 
lioness were my companions, so to say, in a chasse. 
The circumstances were as follows : 
“ Whilst out hunting early one morning, I espied 
a small troop of gnoos, quietly grazing at a bend 
of the river. Cautiously approaching them under 
