New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-10-15

captivity, sometimes merely stuffed. His own
photographs are reproduced without retouch-
Ing though it is to be noted. and regretted,
that in one of two instances it has been impos-
sible to keep the BURN Of the engraver from
improving" the photo-cngraved plate. The
Masai-Nyika, the great steppe of East Africa,
was the scene of most Of Mr.. Schilngs's ad-
ventures and they seem to have followed one
another with a rapfdity that must have made
life in the wilderness as exciting and uncertain
as that led by any hero Of historical fiction,
who had no snapshot camera to testify to his
veracity Some idea of his temperament and
how well it fitted into his environment may be
gathered from his observations while hoping for
g chance to photograph some buffalOes at night
IN the Ndjiri Lakes:
Every evening took stand on the small small
islands Of the lakes The possible da a 6 o
the pleasure of hunting ducks and pIrds OF an
In MANY a dark and cloudy night the roar of lions
could be heard for hours, SO that we became usse 90
lullaby
The lions. he found. contrary to general i'm
preston would often come together in troops
He observed as many as fourteen in one band,
and their number at least facilitated the taking
of the pictures found in the book His 'methoo
of procedure" as he naively explains. was
simple but dangerous" Toward evening ne
would bind to a tree near the path Of the beasts
some animal usually an ass that, bitten py Ihe
tse-tse 9y was doomed to die anyhow. Iaklng
my stand near by" he goes on, Il waited until
| heard and saw the beast approach its prey Il
goes without saying that had to register more
failures than successes" The photographs
show that lions do not approach their prey IN
mad leans so interesting and awe inspiring to
behold in paintings and drawings, but rather
crawling close to the ground, until they are quite
near, and then making single bound Tor inc
neck One crunch, and all is over
MI SchiIlings had some lively experiences Win
laonar6s Once he almost stepped on one, which
ran ont Of the grass in front Of him SO close
that he confesses he was too frightened TO shooC
When he did fire he missed. and a second snot
wounded # only slightly. It Is he says, very
hard to hit a fleeing leopard, and II Is oeIIer
for the hunter to miss one than merely to wound
it, as it is likely to turn and charge him. ana
its intensely rapid movements hardly allow him
N take aim He adds: Although knew this
from personaI experience, and although 1 had
made I'D my mind to shoot leopards only under
favorable conditions, I always yielded TO the
temptation whenever got chance to shoot
On one occasion his fooIhardiness nearly cost
him his life He relates:
noticed in the sand of the stePpe the tracks OF
leopard dragging its prey Ieg eq b me 10 li vent
ali around it. and found that the animal had not
iaf+ II Soon I made out the leopard lying with its
prey small antelope, in hole under the roots OF
a tree But the beast had noticed me also Leaving
its prey behind the leopard tried to steal away; at
the same moment fired. A trail OF blood proved
that had hit the animal but not klneo IL cong ing
along the high and steep embankment noticed The
beast covering, half hidden by the roots or a tree
The distance between WAS about seVeuty-flTe
feet. What happened now was enacted much more
quickly than II takes time 20 describe it A. the
same moment that raised my rifle TO fire telling
shot the leopard leaped toward me quick as hash
of lightning l saw the beast clawing the edge or
the rayine and almost touching my feet, and felt
that there escape possible. and no defence
either when the leopard jumped back into the
raVtne An quickly as II had attacked me The sight