ch. in] RETURN TO CAMP 79 
was dead when we walked up. A cub had been seen 
and another full-grown lion, but they had slunk off, and 
we got neither. 
This was a full-grown, but young, lioness of average 
size ; her cubs must have been several months old. We 
took her entire to camp to weigh: she weighed two 
hundred and eighty-three pounds. The first lion, which 
we had difficulty in finding, as there were no identifying 
marks in the plain of tall grass, was a good-sized male, 
weighing about four hundred pounds, but not yet full- 
grown, although he was probably the father of the cubs. 
We were a long way from camp, and, after beating 
in vain for the other lion, we started back; it was after 
nightfall before we saw the camp fires. It was two 
hours later before the porters appeared, bearing on poles 
the skin of the dead lion and the lioness entire. The 
moon was nearly full, and it was interesting to see 
them come swinging down the trail in the bright silver 
light, chanting in deep tones over and over again a 
line or phrase that sounded like : 
“ Zou-zou-boule ma ja guntai; zou-zou-boule nia ja guntaif 1 
Occasionally they would interrupt it by the repetition 
in unison, at short intervals, of a guttural ejaculation, 
sounding like “ huzlem.” They marched into camp, 
then up and down the lines, before the rows of small 
fires ; then, accompanied by all the rest of the porters, 
they paraded up to the big fire where I was standing. 
Here they stopped and ended the ceremony by a minute 
or two’s vigorous dancing, amid singing and wild shout¬ 
ing. The firelight gleamed and flickered across the 
grim dead beasts and the shining eyes and black 
features of the excited savages, while all around the 
moon flooded the landscape with her white light. 
