The Jasper news., 1912-05-30


that alone makes him appear anything but the
king of beasts" that he is SO popularity supposed
to be.
have invariably experienced the greatest dan
ger In hunting where elephants we're concerned
with lions | have never had any serious trouble
In fact / have rather a sneaking contempt Tor
them for they are harmless except when they
are wounded and followed into the long grass, or
in the case Of liouess with cubs. So great
contempt have the men In East AFRICA Tor them
that they have now taken to hunting them on
horseback riding them down and shooting them
with revovers
shan 'endeavor to show why the hunters of
Africa look so lightly upon these tawny beasts
of the Jungle | must confess. unless be mis-
understood, that lions may be as dangerous and
even more so than other animals of the plains
forests under certain circumstances. but IT has
never ben my lot to experience any great dan
ger from them This Is primarily due to In
born caution begot the result Of seven years
hunting in the wilderness Of tropical Africa.
At times there are maneaters at large, but for
the most part they are lions that have tasted
blood that too old to hunt their natural
prey, the zcbras,
Man-eaters are rarity rather than otherwise
I'm East Africa and Uganda. In fact know OF
only one case where white man has been eat
en- by a lion during the whole seven years Of my
residence in East Africa. The story Of this Is
dreadful enough in its pitess detail but there
is a touch OF humOr In the story, notwithstand-
ing
| was stationed at small outlying government
post early in 1904 when native came in one
day and reported that a white man, who had
been prospecting for land had disappeared and
left his caravan Of porters almost starving some
days march away from my post hastened out
to search for the man and to relieve the porters
from their predicament
On my arrival at the camp found that the
porters had no idea what had become Of their
mnster. At first I suspected foul play, but later
came to the conclusion that the man had fallen
victim to prowing beast OF the jungles.
instituted close search and eventually found
the head and shoulders Of the poor Fellow.
He had been eaten by lion Of that there
could be mistake, Judging by the remains.
The remnants Of the body were In a bad state
Of decomposition and ! had them placed in a
packing case for burial on my way to the grave
to perform the burial service was almost over
come with laughter, despite the sad occasion.
by observing on the packng-case coffin the stem
ciled words, Keep in a cool place" "Stow away
from the boilers" The packiug-case had been
used to ship cans of butter to East Africa, hence
the painted signs
The natives occasionally fail victims to the
depredatlons of lions but the white man rarely
does for some unknown reason. Even then the
deaths are more often due to gangrene setting
in where men have been mauled and rarely from
actual direct killing.
remember well my first meeting with a lion
| coming home from dinner party late at
night IN NalrODi. the capital OF East Africa, ana
had decided TO inspect one Of my military guards
on the government railway buildings when ]
had approached near enough to the sentry to
hear what going on ! surprised to hear
him banging the corrugated iron wall of the
building with the butt end Of his Martini-Henr
rife He shouting "Shoo! Shoot" at the top
of his voice
| ran toward him TO discover what was the
matter.
why are you making this noise you fool?"
l cried
81 lion, sir very near, eating zebra" he re-
piled
! forward and there sure enough was a
! big black-maned lion, in the bright moonlight.
| eating zebra within fifty yards Of the sentry.
! He had evidently chased the zebra into the
| township, killed it and was now happily taking
his supper He paid not the slightest attention
/ TO the sentrys noise. but kept tearing great
masses Of flesh from the zebras carcass. purrlng
loudly all the time like a huge cat
My sympathy was with the sentry, for he dare
not leave his post and he dare not fire at the
loon, for he was uncertain to the accuracy Of
his old weapon which had been condemned for
many years by the government and was
totally UNFIT for
Telling the sentry 10 take advantage OF the
safety offered him at the top Of a nearby lamp
post I hastened TO my house 10 get my sporting
rifle In order TO do this / had TO pass within
. one hundred yards of the lion, who paid no atten-
| tion TO me at all | hurried back 10 the spot
with my trusty rife and fired at the lion, badly
woundlng H. He dashed OF into the plains be-
hind the town, emitting angry roars as he went
/ decided to follow him for a time at least but
after firing chase he outdistanced me and !
was forced 10 return to bed
Next morning | rode out into the plains and
| searched for him. | picked up his spoor
and in two hours had killed my first lion within
| few miles Of Nairobi township He was a very
fine specimen and well worthy OF my initial ef-
| fort in lion.hunting. | was Justly proud OF my
M nj huf boa 10 limit
| able amount OF goodnatured chan from my
/ brother officials for being so keen as to hunt my
first lion by moonlight in the streets OF the town.
! On another occasion a young lion cub was
! found by party OF us under the raised floor OF
| the corrugatediron postofhce building in the
main street OF Nairobi II had apparently come
| into town with its mother TO view II by night
and had probably been frightened by something