CH. Ill] ON THE POTHA STREAM 75 



said Sir Alfred. It Avns lute before we got the lions 

 skinned. Then we set ofi* toward the ranch, two porters 

 carrying each lion-skin, strapped to a pole, and two 

 others carrying the cub-skins. Night fell long before 

 we were near the ranch ; but the brilliant tropical moon 

 lighted the trail. The stalwart savages who carried the 

 bloody lion-skins swung along at a ftister walk as the 

 sun went down and the moon rose higher ; and they 

 began to chant in unison, one uttering a single word 

 or sentence, and the others joining in a deep-toned, 

 musical chorus. The men on a safari, and, indeed, 

 African natives generally, are always excited over the 

 death of a lion, and the hunting tribes then chant 

 their rough hunting songs, or victory songs, until the 

 monotonous, rjiythmical repetitions make them almost 

 frenzied. The ride home througli the moonlight, the 

 vast barren landscape shining like silver on either hand, 

 was one to be remembered, and, above all, the sight of 

 our trophies and of their wild bearers. 



Three days later we had another successful lion hunt. 

 Our camp was pitched at a water-hole in a little stream 

 called Potha, by a hill of tlie same name. Pease, INIed- 

 licott, and botli the Hills were with us, and Heller came 

 too, for he liked, when possible, to be with the hunters, 



1 so that he could at once care for any beast that was 

 shot. As the safari was stationary, we took fifty or 



; sixty porters as beaters. It was thirteen hours before 

 we got into camp that e^'ening. The Hills had with 

 them as beaters and water-carriers half a dozen of the 

 W'akamba who were working on their farm. It was 

 interesting to watch these naked sa^^ages, with their 

 filed teeth, their heads shaved in curious patterns, and 



( carrying for arms little bows and arrows. 



Before lunch we beat a long, low hill. Harold Hill 



