THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



wrong with the engine at the very moment we saw the 

 Hon. The driver simply had to stop the train, and so gave 

 me this exceptional chance of getting the lion. 



One often hears people praise the courage of the na- 

 tives, hunting the " king of beasts " only with their spears 

 or bow and arrow, as compared to the white man and his 

 modern rifles. But it is then generally forgotten that 

 whereas the white man, as a rule, meets his antagonist 

 alone, the natives invariably turn out in great number for 

 this sport. If, for instance, a certain lion has repeatedly 

 killed cattle or donkeys from a native village or " many- 

 ata," the warriors of that village will go out in a body to 

 kill the marauder with their deadly spears, which they use 

 with great skill and precision. The lion is located, sur- 

 rounded and cornered, and then a rush is made for it en 

 masse by the men, who spear it to death, but not often 

 without a desperate fight, during which generally a few 

 warriors arc badly mauled, and sometimes killed, before 

 the lion succumbs. An eyewitness of such a fray told me 

 that when the fight was over, one warrior was dead and 

 three or four badly wounded, while the body of the lion, 

 with the spears sticking into it, resembled very much a 

 huge yellow pin cushion. 



Of all big game, I believe the lion is the most uncertain 

 to secure. A man may for weeks and even months be 

 in a regular " lion district," where he may hear them roar 

 every night and see their fresh " kills " time and again, 

 and yet never be able to sight a single one of these very 

 wary and cunning beasts. In fact, an English settler not 

 far from Naivaska told me that he had lived for over four 

 years in British East Africa in a district much frequented 



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