204 A LION TRACKED.

be wondered at, that they should be very troublesome during the rains ; but, as I found them so great a plague there during the driest season of the year, it is very probable that they were thicker there during the rains than at other places.

** March 20. — Went very early to see if any lions had visited Aylmer's dead ne//ul, but found no signs of its having been disturbed. We are daily supplied with milk by some people who have made a large zariba on the north bank of the river, and have a great number of goats. The 'proprietor' came early this morning to inform us that last night a lion had had the impudence to jump over the zariba, and carry away a goat. Colvin and I started in pursuit, hoping to be able to follow the depredator; we soon found where he had jumped over the prickly hedge, and the marks made by the wretched goat he had dragged with him. Achmet tracked him across the river, and for a long distance on the other side ; but we finally lost the marks of his footsteps in thick bushes, and were forced to abandon the pursuit.

"We, however, found tracks of buffalo that had drunk last night at the river ; and these we followed a long way from the Settite, and finally got up to them in a kittar' forest. They were all lying down tail to tail, but rose to their feet when we got to within a hundred to a hundred and thirty yards of them. We both singled out what appeared to be big ones, and fired ; the whole herd made off with a tremendous crash through the bushes, but none fell. We ran round, and tried to cut them off as they made for the river. We could have fired again, but abstained from doing so, as they would have been long shots, that could have only wounded them. After following for some distance, we found we had each wounded one ; they lagged behind the rest of the herd, which was evidently going slowly on their account. A little farther, and the only wounded beast