LIONS 33 



Next in abundance to the zebra is the harte- 

 beest, and these two animals, at the time of our 

 visit to Africa, were so common that they were 

 a pest to the settlers. They break through 

 barbed-wire fences and destroy the crops to 

 such an extent that the settlers welcome sports- 

 men. One settler said to me: "While Colonel 

 Roosevelt's writings will be of great benefit to 

 us by encouraging other sportsmen to come 

 here and shoot the animals, on the other hand* 

 he has done us an injury by shooting the lions. 

 If the fifteen lions that your party has already 

 killed had been allowed to live, in a few months 

 they would have exterminated more game than 

 you will get during your entire trip." Another 

 settler argued that the shooting of lions was of 

 benefit, for, as he said, "some of them might 

 become man-eaters and kill scores of natives." 



