130 CENTRAL AFRICAN GAME AND ITS SPOOR 



from his powerful paws, or will jump on the top of a hut and force a way through the 

 thatching. 



He will, as a rule, endeavour to carry off his prey to the bush to devour, and the 

 blood trail can be easily followed next day if one gets the khabar soon enough, if he 

 leaves the body in the hut he will almost invariably return the next night, and so the 

 sportsman should take up a position in a neighbouring hut. 



A man-eating lion does not seem to go in for man eating exclusively, like a man- 

 eating tiger, but may vary between game and man as occasion offers. When 

 disturbed whilst returning to a kill he will usually go away and return the following 

 night. 



Sitting up for a lion one should be certain to take a lantern with one, in case the 

 animal is shot, or, as sometimes happens, he drags himself away badh' wounded to 

 die ; but it would be as well to make certain that he is dead before going near. 



In thick country like Central Africa it is practically impossible to track a lion any 

 distance unless he is leaving blood spoor, and the best of trackers would take about 

 an hour to work out a mile, and as he goes such immense distances in pursuit of game, 

 water, or lying up place, the chances of finding him are infinitesimal. 



If put up by day he will bound off grunting like a pig, and for the first few hundred 

 yards the spoor will be easy enough to follow, as the ground will be broken up where- 

 ever he lands, but directly he is well out of sight he will settle down to walk daintily, 

 leaving hardly a trace. 



Perhaps a bit of grit smaller than a pea being disturbed and showing its earthy 

 side, or the place it has been lying in, will be the only visible sign for ten or twenty 

 yards. 



This is a very different matter to tracking a lion in a sandy desert country like 

 Somaliland, where if fairly fresh khabar can be obtained he may be followed on horse- 

 back and rounded up in a little clump or patch of grass from which he may be driven 

 or burnt out. 



To get a lion in Central Africa largely depends on luck, as one may stumble on 

 one during a day's shoot and perhaps put him up in a dambo from a tuft of grass 

 apparently not big enough to conceal a duiker, or one might shoot for several years 

 and never put one up, as they lie so close. 



That the sportsman should not miss such a fleeting opportunity, we would 

 impress upon him the importance of always carrying his rifle himself; if he does not 

 do so it will be his own fault if he lets this or other valuable game escape him. 



Although a lion will seldom be put up in the daytime, they are often heard at 

 night in good game country. 



