Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-07-19
CAPTURING A LION.
How He Was Finally Lured Into
Captivity.

Captivity.
Last year at this time estimated
that the menageries and geological gar
dens of France, England, Germany and
America contained upward of five hun
dred animals and serpents which had
helped to capture. For seven years |
was employed by dealer in menag-
erie stock at Amsterdam to look for
and seek to capture any living thing in
the curiosity line for which there was
demand, and / doubt if you can find
geological garden in the world which
does not contain some specimen of my
handiwork Sometimes | was with a
party of fifteen or twenty people, en-
ployes and natives, and again there
were only three of us in company 1t
depended, of course, on what sort of
game we were after.
The largest lion ever saw in captiv-
ity was trapped near the village of
Wadi Halfa, on the White Nile, Egypt.
OF all the sportsmen and natives who
saw him, none had ever beheld such
magnificent specimen. A band of
five of us had made our headquarters
at this village for fortnight, looking
after this very beast, who was known
to the people along the Nile for hun
dred miles, and whose depredations
had broken up many herdsmen. He
had been ravaging the country for over
two years, and some wonderful stories
were told of his strength, cunning and
ferocity. Several hunting parties had
been organized to pursue and kill the
monster, but in each instance the lion
killed two or three of the hunters and
escaped without scratch. The. only
time he had ever been wounded was by
spear in the hands of woman.
The big lion had leaped the stockade
of a herdsmen and seized calf, and as
he was preparing to spring out again
the woman ran at him and gave him
a wound just above the eyes. This
left scar which added greatly to the
lions ferocious aspect, and also served
to identify him. In the six months
previous to our arrival at Wadi Halfa
the big beast had killed and eaten fifty
, natives, and hardly night passed that
he did not slaughter horse, an OK, or
sheep, He had driven all the other
lions away and had the field to himself,
and so great was the terror he inspired
that travel over certain roads and
paths to the west of the village had
been entirely suspended even in the
daytime. Five miles west of the vii
lage was broken, wooden district OF
fifteen miles broad, and in this range
the lion was safe. He was heard of as
far down as Sloot, one hundred and
fifty miles north, and as far up as OLD
Dongola, one hundred miles south, but
the greater portion of his time was
spent near Wadi Halfa.
Fad we desired the death of the lier
we should have gone out with our gun.
and popped at him, but he was no goot
to us unless we captured him alive ant
without serious injury. We spent two
days looking the ground over, and ther
decided to try the simplest plan first
Sharp men are always posted on sharI
tricks. 1t is the same with wilt
beast who has been much hunted. II,
is looking for his enemies to catch hin
by some new trick. The natives hat
regarded this lion as too well posted
to fall into pit, and none had evel
been dug. We selected path whicl
he had used so often to come down to
pool of water in the hills that he hat
beaten it hard, and here we tied
sheep. The old fellow took the bal
the first night.
On the next night we left another
but the lion passed it by, went down t,
the plain and killed an OK, and on hi
way back to his den about daylight
stopped and killed the sheep and passe,
on. He did likewise on the third night
seeming to have lost his taste for nut
ton, but stopping to kill for the pleas
ure of it. We furnished fourth, an,
a fifth, and each was killed in rotation
1t was easy to imagine the scene. TIL
sheep was tied to a small tree besid
the path. about twenty feet from tn
pool. The lion must pass him to get +
the water. He issued from his lair a
sunset, as we knew by his roaring, an
with head high in air and stately trea
he took his way down the path. Tn
poor sheep heard and scented him, an
after vain struggle to get away be
came horror-stricken, and could onl
use its eyes. The lion came slowl
down the path, growing and lashin
his tail, and when fifteen feet ava
halted and uttered roar which shoe
the hills. The sheep was frozen wit
fear. A man, tied and helpless, woul
have tainted away.
The lion enjoyed the terror of h
puny victim. A sheep was but sma
potatoes to beast who could kill a
eight hundred pound OK with one bio
of his r.ighty paw, but it was an occ'