The major's sister brought the infant back to its mother, and the rest of the guests followed her silently and almost reverently. Ludwig then stepped up to the sofa on which Theodora was reclining, with the pale roses of returning health on her cheeks, and the soft glow of maternal affection in her eyes, and he pressed a kiss upon the lips of his sister; after which he took the child and kissed it; in doing so, some tears stole down his cheek and fell upon the brow of the infant. "Ludwig! do not weep upon the child," said Theodora; "you must not christen it with tears." "Ah, yes, Theodora!" said the young clergyman. "These are tears of joy falling upon sleeping innocence. Know you not, Theodora, that wrath and revenge belong to this world, and happy it is when they are overcome by forgiveness and reconciliation. I celebrate the blessed rites of the latter." LION-HUNTING IN ALGERIA.* EVERY living thing has its purpose in the order of creation. The place in nature occupied by the most noble of the feline animals appears to have been to assist in keeping down the too great prolificness of the deer tribe and other ruminants. But in Northern Africa the antelopes, which rove in bands of myriads over the prairies of South Africa, are almost extinct, and the lion, which, owing to the fastnesses of the Atlas and the supineness of the natives, has continued to abound, has been long reduced to live, for the greater part, upon domestic animals. It is obviously, then, a good thing to extirpate him: he is no longer fulfilling his place in nature. The "chef de bureau Arabe"-pasha and kadi in one-M. Hugonnet, says, in his "Souvenirs," that poets must renounce the well-known expression, "lion of the desert." The lion likes shady woody regions, with cool caverns, running streams, game to hunt, and especially districts that are well inhabited, and where there are plenty of beasts-things rare in the desert. But, with all due deference to Monsieur le Chef de Bureau, this only holds good of the lion of North Africa, not of the South. All that is related in the book now before us corroborates, however, what M. Hugonnet says with respect to the lion of the Algerian Tell and Sahara. With this change of habits and sad moral deterioration of the monarch of the forest, has come also a modified character. In Algeria the lion does everything by stealth; he appears uniformly to run away even from a single man, will leave his cubs to be destroyed, and only when wounded, hard pushed, and irritated by pain, will give some manifesta * Mes Chasses au Lion. F. Chassaing. Préface du Commandant P. Garnier. Paris: E. Dentu. tions of the bold, enterprising, and vigorous nature which is his attribute in the wilderness. The Arab-Berber tenants of the Algerian Tell and Sahara can, however, do little against an antagonist so formidable from sheer strength, weight of body, and defensive powers, and when men like the unfortunate Jules Gerard, the Brigadier Flageolet, and the engineer F. Chassaing, distinguish themselves by their combined skill and courage in killing lions, their services are perpetually sought for by the dwellers in tents, who suffer so much from the perverted taste of the " Cid," or " Sayid"-not he of Spain, but of the Atlas. M. Chassaing was by birth an Auvergnat-that is to say, a mountaineer-and he was accustomed from early childhood to be out at nights watching for game. To this, and to a natural love of sport, must be attributed his success as a lion-hunter. His head-quarters in Algeriaand this is a further proof of what we have before expounded-were at Batna, on the high road from Constantine to Biskara, a chief place of a military subdivision, a "ville toute Française," says Achille Fillias in his "Guide en Algerie," with straight and spacious streets, a population of seventeen hundred and eighty-six souls, diligences to Constantine and Biskara, hospitals, barracks, churches, hotels, cafés, theatres, and promenades-not to mention an electric telegraph. Yet it was within a few days' journey of this little centre of civilisation in the Tell that lions abounded. But Batna, it must be also remarked, is at the foot of what are called the Aurés-the most rugged portion of the great Atlas chain -Biskara, a rising city in the Sahara, with citadel and "jardin d'essai," is on the other side of the chain-and the slopes of the mountains are clothed with magnificent forests of cedar, juniper, or terebinth trees and evergreen oaks. The plains are, for the most part, cultivated, and are interspersed with pastures, especially high up the hills. The consequence is that the district is well populated by Arab-Berbers, who tend large flocks, while the numerous streams furnish water-power for many flourmills. Lions come down from the mountains and woods to disturb this otherwise peaceful and pastoral scene. The man who helps to exterminate them, as M. Chassaing did, deserves well of his country, for he is surely a potent instrument for the dissemination of much-talked-of "civilisation," at least in one of its forms, in Algeria.* M. Chassaing was first introduced to the Algerian lion in company with a friend, M. Armentés, when shooting wild-boar in the Ouled-Abdi (Walid-Abdi), in the Aurés. They had with them a mule and a donkey, which were left to pasture while they were shooting. On their return, however, the donkey was missing. The Arabs of the neighbourhood were appealed to, but without success. Early in the morning of the following day, traces of a lion that had dragged the donkey with it were discovered leading to the cover above. On nearing the wood, the sportsmen could distinguish the noise made by the animal in carrying its prey through the thicket. Following up, the lion made off, and they found the remainsfour legs and part of the breast of the unfortunate jackass. Our sportsmen, indignant at the spectacle presented to them, vowed vengeance, and they set to work forthwith to construct two ambuscades in as many oaks, ten or twelve feet high, immediately over the asinine spoil. The wind blew, however, from the north-west; it was in the month of March, and so cold that they had to give it up, and take refuge in the Arab gurbis, * We rejoice to see, since writing the above, that the emperor recognised this fact on the occasion of his late visit to Batna, by nominating M. Chassaing a member of the Legion of Honour. or tents. The next day they dug a hole, a few feet in depth, at the foot of a rock which fronted the wood, surrounding it with stones, and heaping branches over the whole. It was a little citadel, and at night they took up their positions in this extemporised rifle-pit with the utmost confidence. They took it by turns to watch. M. Chassaing had first sleep, but he was soon awoke by his companion in time to see an enormous lioness close to the bait. Unfortunately, M. Armentés made so much noise in waking him up that the lioness heard it, and made off before a shot could be obtained. She did not, however, go far, nor was she long in returning. Hearing no further noise, she came back as stealthily as a cat, her throat on the ground. Her object was manifestly to spring at the bait, and then make off with it into the wood. This ingenious manœuvre was baffled by M. Chassaing firing when she was within twenty-five paces of the pit. The lioness rolled into a little canal of irrigation, and then rising up, took a tremendous leap, but fell again motionless into the channel. M. Chassaing felt convinced that she was killed, but his companion said, positively, "You have missed her." At all events, as she might possibly come back, they remained perfectly quiet, and in half an hour a lion of moderate dimensions made his appearance. He lay down within thirty paces of the ambuscade. Chassaing was preparing to fire, when his companion said to him, "Don't fire yet-let him come nearer.' Ten minutes after the lion got up and disappeared in the wood, nor did he return till some time afterwards, when it was so dark that they could not get a shot, so he succeeded in getting the bait off, and they could hear the crunching of his great teeth in the cover. Except that the lioness was heard now and then to utter plaintive groans, the night passed without any further incident, and no sooner did day break than they issued forth from their ambuscade to reconnoitre, but with the greatest precautions and their fingers on their triggers. They were not long in finding the lioness dead, and lying at full length in the little water channel. The donkey was avenged! "But instructed," says M. Chassaing, "by the incidents of this first lion-hunt, my reflections satisfied me that to enter seriously upon this sport, and carry it out with success, it must be done alone. I seldom departed from that resolve from this time forthwith." The next time, then, that M. Chassaing started for the Atlas it was alone. The station he selected was on an upland situated only a few miles from the extensive ruins of Lambessa, now the great prison for political exiles from France. Several tribes were encamped on the upland, and they all complained of the ravages of lions. They presented our sportsman with a goat to facilitate his operations. The first night of ambuscade a couple of jackals, as usual, proclaimed the approach of the monarch whose leavings constitute their usual repast, and a lion soon followed, but, not liking the appearance of the ambuscade, he withdrew, leaving the terrified goat untouched. The next night it rained with a دو cold wind, and M. Chassaing did not leave the "dhawar," or "door," used collectively ("douar") for an encampment. The lion was on the alert however, sprang over the fence of the encampment, and carried off a sheep, notwithstanding the objurgations and vociferous insults of the Arabs. The rain continuing, M. Chassaing returned to Batna, but on the 15th of the same month (April) the Arabs came to say that the lion had carried off a cow, and to beg of him that he would intercede with him in their favour. Nothing loth, he started again, and finding, from his last experience, that a regular ambuscade alarmed the enemy, he contented himself this time with cutting down a few branches of evergreen oak, and taking up a position behind them. Decidedly M. Chassaing was gaining in confidence as well as in experience. No sooner the moon up, than he was at his place. The jackals soon set up their usual nocturnal chorus. This was almost as soon interrupted by a more powerful voice, which, although at a distance, had the effect of at once silencing the smaller fry. It was not long before a perceptible noise in the covert announced the approach of the larger animal. Approaching, but with prudence, the relics of the cow, he lay down on his belly, and moved his head to and fro over the carcase. The opportunity was too good to be lost; aim was taken in front of the left shoulder or at the heart, and the trigger pulled. The lion took a tremendous leap over the dead cow, and disappeared in the covert. Shortly afterwards, deep groans and a tremulous action, which shook the very ground, announced that the lion was no more. At daybreak, the Arabs, who had heard the shot, made their appearance. "Have you killed that Yudi" (Jew)-had he been a Jew, they would have said that Christian-"who has done us so much mischief?" they shouted. "Here he is! here he is!" exclaimed others, who had found the beast stretched at full length about thirty paces from M. Chassaing's frail ambuscade. It will be seen that our sportsman never left his ambuscade till daylight. He knew full well that a wounded lion would be a most dangerous antagonist to meet in the dark. Indeed, throughout, his excessive prudence, although at fault on one signal occasion, was as remarkable as his patience, courage, and perseverance. It is not one man in a thousand that would make a successful lion-hunter. It was not till the 25th of August in the same year that a family of lions was signalised as being in the cover, near the "Lion's Fountain," appropriately so named, barely three miles from Lambessa. M. Chassaing took with him two mules, one of which he placed near the fountain where the roads met, the other he picketed near the cover, establishing himself in ambuscade close by it. He had not waited long before the roaring of the lions intimated their proximity. Unfortunately, however, they did not leave the cover in the direction he had supposed, but approaching the fountain by another route, left nothing but the head, legs, and backbone of the mule that had been left there, for inspection the ensuing day. Changing his tactics, M. Chassaing took up his position the following night behind a juniper-tree, close to the fountain. It was barely a quarter to eight before a juvenile lion made his appearance. Our sportsman waited quietly for the others. The lioness soon arrived with another cub. The time had now come for active operations, and two barrels were discharged at the same moment. The groans of the lioness and of one of the young lions promised well, and he could indeed perceive both roll over at a distance of about sixty paces as they fled. It was natural to suppose that all was over for the night, but it was not so. About nine o'clock the second cub made his reappearance, and took a seat close by our sportsman, who returned the compliment with a discharge, which sent him also rolling down at the side of the covert, about a hundred paces' distance. At daylight the three lions were found lying dead within a short space of one another, and M. Chassaing made a triumphal entrance into Lambessa amid Arabs shouting and beating their tam-tams. Three lions in one night was pretty well, but the old lion still remained, and two days afterwards the Arabs brought word that he had killed the second mule, which M. Chassaing had left behind him, within one hundred and fifty yards of the fountain. There were no trees at the spot, so a hole was dug amid the ruins, and surrounded with huge cut stones. It was quite a little fortress. At night the jackals came first, followed by a huge hyæna, which began to munch away voraciously at the dead mule. Suddenly a roar in the wood sent the hyæna and jackals to the roundabout, and the lion made his appearance, moving about in circles and roaring loudly, as if to drive away intruders, and assert himself master of the carcase. He did not, however, himself partake of the feast, but withdrew in the darkness, without giving an opportunity for a shot. Next night, M. Chassaing again took to his rifle-pit, and was so annoyed by the jackals that he had to drive them away with stones. At nine o'clock a beautiful lynx made its appearance and partook of the mule, and a large boar came to drink at the fountain. These were the only incidents of the night. The third night, however, the lion made his appearance. He was of great size, of a yellow colour, with a long mane, the hair of which glittered like golden tresses. He approached cautiously, and, when six paces from the mule, he stopped and opened his nostrils to the wind. The instant was favourable, and aiming below the right eye, M. Chassaing fired. The great lion stumbled, but, recovering himself, disappeared before the smoke had cleared away. As his neck was stretched outwards, the frontal bone lay flat, and the ball slipped along it without penetrating -at least, so M. Chassaing opined-and giving up all idea of seeing it again, he returned to Batna satisfied with his lioness and the young lions. On the 3rd of September he started for the great cedar-forest of Sgag, some eight leagues from Lambessa. He found three tribes on the upland of Taphrinth, who told him that the lions carried off cattle or sheep every night from their encampments. The Arabs gave him a sheep for a bait, and he took up his position near an old terebinth-tree (whence the name of the place-Taphrinth), after that careful study of the environs and of the traces and probable movements of the lions, which he made on most occasions, and in which he appears to have become a great adept. The sheep was made fast only two yards distant from the tree. At eleven o'clock the poor beast began to manifest evident signs of terror. A short time afterwards a lion sprang upon it out of the darkness; there was a plaintive cry, and all was over. The lion reckoned upon carrying off his prey at once, but it had been too well fastened, and he disappeared, leaving |