FROM ADEN TO MOMBASA. 41 



All the men and most of the women are enthusiastic hunters of 



big game. Here have been organized the various "safaris," or 



camping trips, which put Col. Roosevelt in touch with the big game 



he is after, — in touch with the savage jungles and wild plateau, with 



exhilarating days in the open, with densely black nights about camp 



fires. How hugely he enjoys the freedom of this life, the primitive 



natives, the manifold dangers, the subtle, irresistible exhilaration 



which civilization feels when it comes in contact with savage life! 



After all is said and done, our centuries of civilization lie on us but 



as a garment, under which we thrill in response to the call of the 



wild. 



HOW COL. ROOSEVELT HUNTS LIONS. 



This is the way in which they hunt lions. First find the lion, 

 lured to a kill, driven from a reed bed or kicked up incontinently by 

 the way. Once located, he must never be lost sight of for a moment. 

 Mounted on ponies of more or less approved fidelity, three or four 

 daring whites or Somalis gallop after him across rocks, holes, tus- 

 socks, nullahs, through high grass, thorn scrub, undergrov/th, turn- 

 ing him, shepherding him, heading him this way and that, until he is 

 brought to bay. 



For his part the lion is no seeker of quarrels; he is often de- 

 scribed in accents of contempt. His object throughout is to save his 

 skin. H, being unarmed, you meet six or seven lions unexpectantly, 

 all you need do — according to my information — is to speak to them 

 sternly and they will slink away, while you throw a few stones at 

 them to hurry them up. All the highest authorities recommend this. 



But when pursued from place to place, chased hither and 

 thither by the wheeling horsemen, the naturally mild disposition of 

 the lion becomes embittered. First he begins to growl and roar at 

 his enemies in order to terrify them and make them leave him in 

 peace. Then he darts little short charges at them. Finally, when 

 every attempt at peaceful persuasion has failed, he pulls up abruptly 

 and offers battle. 



Once he has done this he will run no more. He means to fight, 

 and to fight to the death. He means to charge home, and when a 

 lion, maddened with the agony of a bullet wound, distressed by long 



