Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-02-27

Gray Both have a host of friends
who extend to them their best wishes
upon the occasion Of their marriage
AN ADVENTURE WITH A LION
Trapper Tells How He Was Almost
Torn to Pieces.
It was in Portuguese East Africa, or
February 13, 1905, that had an en-
counter with a female lion which came
near putting me out Of the hunting
business for keeps, sent me to the hos
pital for fourteen months, and left
me with a depression on my right side
large enough to comfortably admit
mans head, where segments Of foul
ribs, some Of the lung and a consid-
erable part Of the muscular tissue
were torn away in mouthfuls, much a.
a cat would dismember a young rab.
bit
I had entered the region, which Is
on the railroad, near the boundary be-
tween Portuguese East Africa and
Rhodesia, the December before. was
accompanied by two Dutch colonists
and outfitted for sofari with twenty
five or thirty Mashona, Blantyre and
Titi natives, or boys" and several
donkey carts to collect wild animals
and reptiles for menageries and 20
illogical gardens. Where we could take
the animals alive We hauled them ir
bamboo cages in donkey carts to the
railway cars at Bamboo Creek sta
ton, seven miles from where we had
built our kraal, put them in stronger
cages and ran them by rail down to
Beira, on the coast, and shipped them
by water to Hagenbach, at Hamburg
and Cross, at Liverpool.
The country we were in abounded
with game-lions, elephants, rhinoceri
zebras and the smaller variety of mon
keys, besides snakes Of all descrip-
tions, and for two months we did a
fiourishing business. particularly in the
capture of snakes and young animals
and in taking many valuable skins,
although the main object of our ex-
pedition, which was to secure one OF
more adult lions, we found hard to
accomplish.
The favorite and safest method OF
taking a lion alive Is in the ungoti, or
pit, which is excavated to a depth OF
ten or twelve feet, its mouth given a
frail covering Of brush, on which turf
is carefully laid and fitted to make 1t
resemble a natural earth surface. The
country there is quite level and given
over to a riotous growth Of wacht a
bigle, or wait a bit" bush, a thorny
scrub, which can only be traversed by
following the game trails, so we always
constructed our pits along the trails,
as a lion is peculiarly averse to in
juring his feet or body by contact
with the sharp thorns.
It is the habit Of lions, on making
a kill, to eat their fill, leave the car
cass, retire to their lairs for a COM
Portable sleep, and return for a fur
ther feast when hungry and no other
prey Is available.
We had two ways Of shooting lions
One was to build boomma, or blind,
of thorny brush near where the lion
had made a fresh kill, and let one or
more men crawl under 1t for conceal
ment until the return Of the animal
which is nearly always at night. If
there Is a moon the hunter can pot
the animals with comparative ease and
safety, for he can shoot through the
openings of his blind, and even should
he only cripple the lion he Is not In
much danger from attack, as the
thorny bush will nearly always stop
the animal.
Our other way of shooting lions was
by setting spring guns. To do this
we surrounded the fresh carcass with
scarum. or barricade, Of brush, leav-
ing one narrow opening, which we US
ually covered with two heavy rifles,
one from each side, with a fine, strong
silk cord attached to their hair trig-
gers and stretched across the entrance.
Upon the return Of the lion he would
cir lie the barricade until he found the
entrance, and when he started in, one
or the other of the rifles was pretty
sure to get him.
1 found the donkey partially eaten
in this case. and had my boys build a
scarum, in which l set the rifles; then
we dug several pits. had discovered
the kraal Of an American, a few miles
away, and went over to pay him a
visit, ..r was a treat to meet some
one W. poke English and could talk
of the r'rings and places knew.
We were drinking Scotch and soda
when some Of my boys rushed in, cry
ing. THE lion is over there" 1 ran
with them, to find that pair OF lions
had visited the carcass, and that the
male lion had been killed by the trap
guns. The female, in prowling around
trying to find a way to reach her mate,
had been caught in one Of the pits,
where we located her by her roaring.
We erected poles and rugged blocks
and tackle over the mouth Of the hole,
managed to attach ropes to the roar
ing, striking, biting beast, finally hoist
ed her out, and with much prodding
and the discharge of blank cartridges
got her in the bamboo cage.
We always travelled at night to
avoid the intense heat Of the daytime.
and dawn was breaking when we ar
rived at Bamboo Creek station and
undertook to transfer the lioness from
our bamboo cage to another cage, on
a railway car. My Dutch partners
started back to the bush, as we did not
consider it necessary for them to stay,
Our ropes were still attached to her
body, and putting my boys on these
I had them haul in three directions
while 1 opened the bamboo cage,
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