The Green Forest tribune., 1912-05-24

elephant the most danger
 ous. Perhaps have been un- duly fortunate in encounters with the lion, and that alone makes him appear anything but the 'king of beasts" that he is so popularly supposed to be-
 have invariably experienced the greatest dan- ger in hunting where elephants were concerned. With lions have never had any serious trouble In fact l have rather a sneaking contempt for them for they are harmless except when they are wounded and followed into the long grass in the case of lioness with cubs. So great a contempt have the in East Africa for them that they have now taken to hunting them on horseback, riding them down and shooting them with revolyers.
 shall endeavor to show why the hunters of Africa look so lightly upon these tawny beasts of the jungle I must confess, unless I be mis- understood, that lions may be as dangerous and even more than other arimals of the plains or forests under certain crcimstances but it has never ben my lot to experience any great dan ger from them. This is primarily due to an in- born caution begot the result of seven years hunting in the wildernessi of tropical Africa.
 At times there are mapeaters at large, but for the most part they aref lions that have tasted blood or that are too o11 to hunt their natural prey, the zebras.
 Man-eaters are a rarity rather than otherwise in East Africa and Uganda. In fact I know of only one case where white has been eat en by lion during the whole seven years of my residence in East Africa The story of this Is dreadful enough in it's pitiless detail, but there is touch of humor h the story. notwithstand- ing.
 I stationed at a small outlying government post early in 1904 when a native came in one day and rcported\thst white man, who had been prospecting for land, had disappeared and left his caravan of pprters 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 arriu of tha I hat tha porters had idea what had become of their master At first suspected foul play but later came to the conclusion that the man had fallen victim to a prowling beast of the jungles. instituted a close search and eventually found the head and shoulders of the poor fellow.
 He had been e$ten by lion, of that there could be mist fake, judging by the remains. The remnants of lthe body were in bad state of decompostioo1 and I had them placed in packingcase for burial. On my way to the grave to perform the btral service I almost come with laughter, despite the sad occasion by observing on Ihe packingcase coffin the sten- ciled words Keep in a cool place." Stow away from the boilers" The packng-case had been rsed- to sfip of butter to East Africa, hence the pairted signs
 The natives occasionally fall victims to the depredations of lions, but the white man rarely does for some unknown reason. Even then the deaths are often due to gangrene setting In where have been mauled and rarely from actual direct killing.
 I remember well my first meeting with lion coming home from dinner party late at night in Nairobi. the capital of East Africa, and had decided to inspect of my military guards on the government railway buildings When I had approached near enough to the sentry to hear what going on, was surprised to hear him banging the corrugated iron wall of the building with the butt end of his Martini-Henr rifle He shouting "Shoo! shoo!' at the top of his voice.
 Z I ran toward him to discover what was the matter
 "Why are you making this noise. you fool?" I cried.
 q lion, sir. very near eating zebra" he re- piled.
 I ran forward and there sure enough was a big blackmaned lion, in the bright moonlight eating zebra within fifty yards of the sentry.
 He had evidently chased the zebra into the township, killed 1t and 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. purring loudly all the time like huge cat
 My sympathy was with the sentry, for he dare not leave his post and he dare not fire at the ioon, for he uncertain to the accuracy Of his old weapon. which had been condemned for many years by the government and totally unfit for
 Telling the sentry to take advantage of the safety offered hin. at the top of a nearby lamp post hastened to my house to get my sporting rife In order to do this I had to pass within one hundred yards of the lion, who paid atten tion to me at all hurried back to the spot with my trusty rife and fired at the lion badly wounding it. He dashed off into the plains be- hind the town emitting angry roars as he went I decided to follow him for a time at least. but after a tirng chase he outdistanced and ] forced to return to bed
 Next morning rode out into the plains and searched for him. I picked up his spoor and in two hours had killed my first lion within a few miles of Nairobi township He was a very fine specimen and well worthy of my initial ef fort in lion-hunting. I justly proud of my achievement but had to submit to a consider able amount of good-natured chaf from my brother officials for being keen to hunt my first lion by moonlight in the streets of the town
 On another occasion a young lion cub found by party of us under the raised floor of the corrugated-iron postoffice building in the main street of Nairobi. It had apparently into town with its mother to view it by night and had probably been frightened by something