The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-26
SUICIDE OF THE LION.
A Kafir Hunters Word Picture of n
Strange Event In South Africa.

New York Sun.
my Kaffir guide last summer in the Trans
wall" said w. S. Mcintosh, who arrived
in New York a few days ago from Cape
Town. The name of the boy-he was forty
years old, but all natives employed by
Europeans in Africa are boys, though their
hair be gray and their years three-score
and ten-was Tamaya, and his master,
Capt. Jack Mason, detailed him to my
special service during my stay at his place,
The Willows Tamaya was o good repre-
sentative of his fine race; a skilled hunter,
brave and trustworthy, and a mastery
handler of the three or four hundred words
in his vocabulary When he told Of strange
things he had seen and undergone in the
African wilderness. He and I were hunt
ing for antelope one day and had stopped
for luncheon in the shadow of Breakneck
rock. 1t was a rocky blum, which fell on
one side in a sheer preclplce 2O feet to the
plain; on the other side q gradual slope,
covered with bushes and small trees, led
up 10 the summit.
said the Kaf1lr while we were smoking our
pipes. mo-. not this place-nere.' ne
walke away q few PAGES, and, stopping,
pointed with his hand first up to the top
Of the cliff, where a projecting shelf over
hung the base, and then to the ground at
his feet. He made a sweeping gesture with
his arm, indicating that 1t was meant to
take in the distance from the top to the
ground where he stood. Then he came back
to me and told the story.
It was long agO-many years-so long
The Kaffir held up the thumb and fingers Of
his right hand twice, and then two fingers
to signify that IT was twelve years. That
horse run away from the kraal and l go
after him, and the debble / catch sooner
than that dam horse. l so so half q day,
and so half a day, and come to the kraal
and no horse have, and a Mason swear
and say catch him horse tomorrow or 1
catch him whip. Bineby tomorrow ] go
and think / climb that rock and look long
way all round, and mebbe I see that horse.
So I go round behind him, that rock, where
he go up so, so easy, and l climb one, two,
ApaA ~0s1n- xAnkhn NJ I cat IN aud I InnE
bat l think sooner | see BaaS MaSOn's whip
than that dam horse. Then | think | go
out on that rock-there.' The Kaftir pointed
to the projecting top Of the cliff. He all
one piece, big, smooth-ike that, ~designat-
ing the level ground where we were sitting.
Then something say IN my head lion, lion,
path like he come catch me.
II nave no gun, but there is a tree, and
l go up where mat ION no get me; BUT ne
no see me or care. He come on and he walk
slow, So and Tamaya initiated the move
ment of a four-footed animal walking pain
fully with measured step. Big, he mighty
big, never I see a lion so big, but he old and
his head hang down, and l think he no see
me. He old, and his tail dra-ag on the
ground and the rib stick out so. He go
slow, slow, by me and go out on the rock
and he stand and he look off there, and l
think bimeby he go way, and l go to kraal.
But he stay and he roar low, so, like OK
when he smell the lion; then he roar so;'
the Kaffir, initiating a lions voice. deep
ened and strengthened the sound; and ne
lift his neaQ ana MS tHll SWITCH So linen
he roar loud, ~loud-never hear a lion roar
like that fellow roar-and / drop my hat
and / reach to catch him, and 1 look again,
and there is the rock and the lion be no
there.
I wait and wait, and bimeby I get down
and go to that rock and l got down so and
look and there that lion is down on the
ground and he lie so-dead-and he never
kick. And I go back to kraal and 1 tell
Baas and he say I come with big lie because
I no catch that horse, and if l lie l catch
that whip. And he ride out, and l go. ana
he bring whip. and he find that lion-there.
And he say: THAT thing ! never saw since
1 came here. Damn the horse! Hamaya,
tell the TRUTH
NO rendering that I can give will carry
it was at every stage with voice end pan
tomime. Captain Mason told me that it
doubtless was true In every detail; that he
had ridden out with Tamaya after the
Kaffir had brought him the tale and they
had found the lion dead where he had fallen.
He must have been killed instantly by the
fall and could not have moved from where
he struck or rolled-but the body lay forty
PAGES from the foot Of the cliff, and full
twenty-five PAGES beyond the projecting
rock above showing that the lion had leaped
How do 1 account for It? I don't &C
count for it, said Captain Mason. OR,
rather, there is only one explanation-that
the lion got tired Of the game and quit. He
was q big fellow, and he must have made q
noble showing in his prime. Now he was
old and %toothless; blind, maybe, starved and
altogether run to seed; but 50 much Of the
lion was left in the shaky body-the heart
to make a dignifed ending"