212 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



drainage we entered the Loita Plains from the west and 

 struck across country to a high rocky kopje which domi- 

 nated the whole western section of the plains. Camp was 

 pitched on the open plains near a few muddy pools of red 

 water some three miles from the kopje and preparations 

 were made for beating the hill the following morning. 



"The hill from camp stood out like a great headland, but 

 at the back it sloped away gradually and connected by a 

 wide, grassy pass with two smaller hills. The summit was 

 strewn with huge reddish granite boulders interspersed with 

 a few dark-green bushes. The plain at its base was every- 

 where grass covered and open except on the camp side to- 

 ward which a scattered growth of thin bushes ran out as a 

 long spit and connected with the bush-covered area about 

 the water-pools near camp. The beating was done by a 

 hundred porters who were sent in a body to the low pass 

 behind the hill, from which point they began their opera- 

 tions so as to prevent the lions from breaking back to the 

 shelter of the two smaller hills. Rainey and the hunters 

 and photographers stationed themselves west of the hill in a 

 slight depression of the veldt and awaited results. As we 

 lay there waiting we saw a lioness appear on one of the huge 

 boulders at the summit. She stood silhouetted against the 

 sky scanning the plains for a means of escape. The noise 

 which the beaters were now making on the lower slopes of 

 the hill was beginning to cause the lions uneasiness. Soon 

 other lions appeared on the rocks, sometimes as many as 

 four appearing together and searching the horizon for the 

 best means of escape. At intervals two magnificently 

 maned lions appeared in sight, one with a deep black mane, 

 his yellow head framed by a wide circle of black; the other 



