The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1912-05-24

GUS Perhaps I have been un-
duly fortunate II encounters with the lion, ana
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 were concerned
with lions have never had any serious trouble
In fact l have rather a sneakng contempt lot
them for they are harmless except when they
are wounded and followed into the long grass, or
in the case of a uoness with cubs. SO great
contempt have the men in East Africa for them
that thew 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. | must confess unless be mis-
understood that lions may be dangerous and
even more so than other animals of the plains or
forests under certain circums stances but it has
never ben my lot to experience any great dan
ger from them. This Is primarily due to an in
born caution becot as the result of seven years
hunting in the wilderness Of tropical Africa.
At times there are man.eaters at large but for
the most part they are lions that have tasted
blood or that are too old to hunt their natural
prey, the zebras
Man.eaters are rarity rather than otherwise
in East Africa and Uganda. In fact l know OF
only one case where white man 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 its pitiless detail, but there
is a touch Of humor in the story, notwithstand-
ing
was stationed at a small outlying government
post early in 1904 when a native came in one
day and reported that 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 I fastened 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
master. At first l suspected foul play, but later
came to the conclusion that the man had fallen
a victim to a proving beast Of the junsles. l
Instituted a close search and eventually found
the head and shoulders of the poor fellow.
He had been eaten by lion, of that there
could be no mistake, judging by the remains
The remnants of the body in a bad state
Of decomposition and | had them placed in
packingcase 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 packing-case coffin the stem
cied words Keep in a cool place" STOW away
from the boilers" The packingcase had been
used to ship cans of butter to East Africa, hence
the painted signs.
The natives occasionally fall victims to the
depredatons 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.
l remember we'll my first meeting with lion.
was coming home from a 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 |
had approached near enough to the sentry to
hear what was going on, was surprised to hear
him banging the corrugated iron wall Of the
building with the butt end of his Martini-Henri
cbO limo a he
of his voice.
ran toward him to discover what was the
matter.
"Why are you making this noise, you fool?"
cried
a lion. sir very near. eating a zebra" he re-
Piled.
ran forward and there sure enough. was a
big backmaned lion in the bright moonlight
eating a zebra within fifty yards of the sentry,
He had evidently chased the zebra into the
township killed it and was happily taking
his supper He paid not the slightest attention
to the sentry's noise, but kept tearing great
masses of flesh from the zebra's carcass, purring
loudly all the time like huge cat.
My sympathy with the sentry, for he dare
not leave his post and he dare not fire at the
noon for he was uncertain as to the accuracy Of
his old weapon, which had been condemned for
many years by the government and was now
totally unfit for use
Telling the sentry to take ADVANTAGE of the
safety offered him at the top of a nearby lamp
post I fastened 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 pad atten-
ton to lie at all I buried back to the spot
with my trusty rifle and fired at the lion badly
wounding It. He dashed off into the plains be-
hind the town, emitting angry roars as ie went,
I 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. I soon picked up his spoor
and in two hours had killed my first lion within
& few miles of Nairob township. He a very
fine specimen and well worthy Of my initial ef-
fort in lion-hunticg I was Justly proud OF my
achievement but had to submit to a consider
able amount Of goodnatured cbaIf 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 1Qor of
the corrugatediron postofFice building in the
main street of Nairob It had apparently come
into town with its mother to view it by night
and had probably been frightened by something