154 
TBE LION. 
yards, but I bad no cbance to fire. Again the low 
growl was repeated, and upon quietly creeping 
towards the spot, I saw a splendid animal crouched 
upon the ground, among the withered and broken 
grass. The lioness lay dying with the bullet wound 
in the shoulder. Occasionally, in her rage, she bit 
her own paw violently, and then struck and clawed 
the ground. A pool of blood lay by her side. She 
was about ten yards from us, and I instructed my 
men to throw a clod of earth at her, (there were no 
stones), to prove whether she could rise, while I 
stood ready with my rifle. She merely replied with 
a dull roar, and I terminated her misery by a ball 
through the head. She was a beautiful animal, the 
patch of the bullet was sticking in the wound, she 
was shot through both shoulders.” 
But the most singular plan of circumventing the 
lion—not practised in Southern Africa, it is true, 
and which, therefore, by rights, should not find a 
place in these pages—is that described by Layard 
in his “ Nineveh and Babylon.” 
“ The Maidan Arabs,” says he, ec boast of capturing 
the lion in the following manner, and trustworthy 
persons have assured me they have seen the feat per¬ 
formed. A man havingbound hisright arm with strips 
of tamarish, and holding in his hand a strong piece of 
the same wood, about a foot or more in length, that 
has been hardened in the fire and sharpened at both 
ends, will advance boldly into the animal’s lair. 
When the lion springs upon him, he forces the wood 
between its jaws, which will then be held open, 
whilst he can despatch the astonished beast at his 
