THE LION— KING OF BEASTS 



so the district was ridded of a man-eater, which had slain 

 over twenty people in a few weeks ! 



In spite of such not infrequent occurrences, and nu- 

 merous accidents to lion hunters, it seems to me that the 

 dangers of lion hunting are generally overestimated, for 

 few African beasts are as easily killed as the lion, if hit 

 either in head, neck, or chest. But, of course, the follow- 

 ing up of a wounded lion or lioness in dense bush, or high 

 grass, is a very dangerous undertaking, just as it would 

 be to pursue wounded buffaloes, rhinos, leopards, and par- 

 ticularly elephants. With ordinary precautions, however, 

 a man with a good magazine gun and steady nerve, and 

 perhaps with a reserve gun of some bigger bore close at 

 hand, runs very little risk of being killed or wounded by 

 lions, unless he should attack a large number at the 

 same time, or else lose his head and fail to make his shots 

 tell. 



A good many have been mauled or killed when hunting 

 lions on horseback, as the movements of the more or less 

 frightened horse make a steady aim and a good shot almost 

 impossible. It was in this way a young settler, a Mr. 

 Smith, in the Sotik country was very nearly killed, while 

 I was out there in 1909. He had gone lion shooting on 

 horseback with a friend of his, both being good shots and 

 fearless men. They had succeeded in bagging a couple 

 of lions, and as they were returning to Mr. Smith's farm 

 in the evening, they came upon a lioness, which they 

 wounded, but which they did not want to follow into the 

 dense jungle, as the sun was just about setting. 



The next morning, however, they rode out again to 

 secure the wounded lioness, but before they anticipated 



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