The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1863-09-02


Photooraphino q Lion.
Brady or Quincy, may be relied on going
as far Is the next man to get q good pic.
ture" Of . notability ; but an Ehglish artist
rather gets ahead Of them. Tired Of lions.
social liens, and political lions, shoulders his
rife and his camera, and buries himself Ia
the desert to get . frst.rate photograph ofeAs
ion-tbe king Of beasts in propria psraeHa.
Here is his account Of q little scene In hts
artist life in Algeria:
was reused by something, and felt .
pain in my head, and directly afterwards I
received a blow on the head through the
| side Of the tent, which made the think for
a moment that | had been struck by Al
iron bar, with claws ut the end, which I
carried with me in my wagon, but in An
instant the idea flashed across me that it
was a lion which was shifting at me through
the back of the tent. If | remained where
I was without moving, there was the pro-
liability Of the beast tearing up the tent
and dragging me through. On the other
hand an attempt to move closer to the fire
would probably be detected, as the lion has
| the same characteristics as the cat, and
would doubtless have sprung upon me in
StS0t SooSS 0tsu llNSSS ! a. a. !" Asts"
hesitating what to do, the animal, most
likely from not being able any longer to
feel anything through the wall Of the tent,
must have turned away, for after what was,
in fact, but q few moments, but which
BILE shrek, followed by a low, deep grow
ling, then q shot and q louder growl.
l felt about for my revolver, which | had
o1ooul L..:l, .-., E.~l H. Geo ~o;o, 20 clnon
and creeping round the tent ! saw the hor-
rid beast standing perfectly still, with glar.
ing eyes, and continuing the same low,
deep growing, and holding in his mouth
the body Of a man, which he occasionally
lowered en- the ground, as if with the in
tention Of taking firmer hold: but never
entirely letting 60 of it. ] saw by the di:
recticn of his look that he had caught sight
of me, and so terrible were the ~associa-
tons connected with the beast in my mind
that I dared not move or breathe for some
seconds, when the thought suddenly occur
red to me that it must be tho body OF
IIamcd that he held in his mouth. Ny
liking for this man had become so strong
that the desire to rescue or avenge him
drove every fealing of fear out Of my mind,
and, with a steady aim, | fired at his body
just behind the shoulder. SingularlY
enough, although l know I had hit him, be
merely gave a low growl and remained sta
tionary, without relaxing his hold Of the
Arabs body. How long he would have
remained in this state of inmobility I can't
say, but I was just about to try the effect
Of a second shot, when a regular vollsy Of
guns was fred from out the darkness /; the
beast sprang forward toward me, almost at
the same instant that | felt a sharp, sting.
ing sensation in the upper part of my arm.
and fell to the ground, so close to me that
l stepped back to avoid a blow from his
paws in his death struggle.
They did not last long, and as soon as they
were over, I fetched a lighted brand from
the fire, and first holding it to the face Of
the dead man to see who it was, and feel
ing much relieved at finding it was not
Hamer, l waved it about as a signal fer the
others that they might come with safety
They soon came and clustered round the
body Of the dead lion, some Kicking it, and
others splitting on and reviling it, and at
OF them claiming the honor Of having killed
him, a claim that they seemed far more in
terested in defending than in commisser-
ating the fate Of their dead companion.
All the efforts we made to release the latter
unfortunate from the jaws of the lion were
unavailing, without having recourse to
our knives, and as there was not the least
doubt Of his being dead, for the teeth Of
the powerful brute were buried in his chest
we determined on leaving both bodies
where they wsro until daylight. The first
thing | did, whea awoke, was to look for the
bodies of the Arab and the lion. They were
lying where the beast had fallen in the
night, and his stiffened jaws still held the
body Of the man as in q powerful vice.
The desire of preserving a record of the
event for my friends to look at, was too
strong to be resisted so we set to work,
three pieces Of timber to a point, and
raising the lion to an upright posi-
ton, kept him up b7 means of the pieces
Of WOOD. To conceal these, I placed =
here and there, which had the desir-
ed effect and the result l obtained was q
negative, the like of which believe me nev.
Or was seen. The attitude is as natural az
possible, and makes ono shudder to look
at it.