The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1909-05-15

De fOunQ WIN care
a1z6N11 and good luck. but a
great many who are
absolutely worthless.
In addition to 9TH
err. have always had one man. Alb
aulla Ashur, as head shikari. Besides
being an agreeable companion, he is
far and away the best finder Of game
have ever seen in the country
His pluck Is undeniable. and the
only difhculty have had with
him II to prevent him going
where I did not care to go myself.
This may sound exaggerated praise of
q native. but among other things he
grappled q lion which had knocked me
down. being severely mauled before
he got the brute on. so that I natur
ally entertain q very high opinion of
him. Owing to his skill In tracking
I have only lost one wounded lion out
Of many that were hit, and that was
not his fault. rs the blood stopped al
most directly and the ground was
nothing but stones for miles. This
speaks for itself, as any one who has
shot lions knows how difficult 1t is to
recover q wounded beast without dogs
only once had the help of dogs
after wounded lions. We were camped
down In the Haud among the EidesSn
villages under Sultan Deria. One day
I went out to try to get some meat
for the natives. accompanied by war
rior called Hassan and his pony. I
had just shot an oryx, and We were
cutting 1t up. when the smallest So
mali I have ever seen came running
up to say he had Just observed five
lions asleep under q tree close by.
This man belonged to the low-caste
tribe of Midgans-people who do not
live together in one tribe, but are
scattered all over Somaliland in differ
ent villages, where they are chiefly
engaged In killing antelope for meat.
other Sonalis. as a rule. thinking it
below their dignity to do anything but
60 out occasionally on looting expedi-
dcns. Midgans are armed with bows
and poisoned arrows. and each of
them carries a knife. Until quite
lately no other Soman would use a
bow. but now 1t is quite a common
thing to meet q native belonging to
another tribe who has discarded his
spears for a bow and CULVER of
Shooting Lions with Poisoned
Arrows.
Lions are occasionally killed by
Aidgans. but the poison on the arrows
cannot be very strong. as frequently,
after being sick two or three times,
the lion seems to recover and get
away. Captain Swayne gives an ac-
count of the way In which these Mid
gans hunt the oryx with their dogs.
But to get on with my story. The
little Midgan carried a bow nearly as
long as himself, and was followed by
about q dozen small native dogs with
curly sterns and prick ears. These
little ours were wonderfully broken.
The man trotted on in front of us,
and when he got near the place where
he had seen the lions he simply put
out his hand. and all the dogs lay
down in . bunch and never attempted
to follow on after us. Then we stalked
carefully towards a big thorn tree ris.
ing above the bush. This was where
the lions were said to be. The bush
was very open. and when we came in
sight of the tree the lions were Just
decamping. There were four of them
not nve-an old lioness and three
Hons. perhaps not quite full grown
and with very little name. Hassar
had followed close behind on his pony
20 I shouted to him to try and keer
his eye on the foness. and ran on my
self with Abdulla after one of the
lions This one did not seem much
inclined to run. and after a short
burst I managed to get a bullet int
him somewhere Just as he disappeared
into some thick bushes.
At that moment We caught sight O
another lion trotting along parallel Il
US about 200 yards on. The wounde,
one was keeping up a continuous Low
growing In the bushes. so, thinkin,
he would not get far away. we ran I.
cut OF the other. He turned of whel
he caught sight of US. and We had
long. stern chase after him. as q re
suit of which I was so blown 1 coul
not hit him. although he was lobbinl
along not more than 100 yards ahead
At last did get a bullet into hi
flank He at once turned, and, grow
ing fiercely. came bounding a fey
yards towards us, as IL trying to max
up his mind to charge. Whether b
would have done so or not / do nc
know. rs my second barrel caught hir
on the point of the shoulder. bringin
him on to his nose. and before h
could recover himself put in anothe
bullet from my second rife and d,
ished him.
II Is more than likely he would NJ
have charged. as have several time
seen q lion make this kind of demon
stration when slightly hit, more.
think. to try to brighten his assaila,
than anything else. A lion that real