THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 183 



^'Angalia bwana, simba m^kubwa sana" ("Look, 

 master, see the very big one!"), he breathed. 



I looked. From behind the screen of thin bush to 

 the left sauntered the most magnificent wild lion I had 

 ever seen. His yellow mane hung thick and long half- 

 way to his knees, and extended far along his back. His 

 head was up, and his sleepy, wise face expressed digni- 

 fied surprise. 



It is well known to African hunters that wild lions 

 rarely carry heavy manes. A good proportion of the 

 adult males are of the maneless variety ; while those that 

 have manes lose a great deal of them in thorns and in 

 the bush. No wild lion ever quite equals in this respect 

 the pampered and sheltered menagerie specimens any 

 more than the latter can compete with their wild 

 kindred in size. At this time I had killed and helped 

 kill seventeen lions. Of that lot seven were males; 

 of the males two were maneless; and of the other five 

 only one had a fairly decent mane, and one what might 

 be called a reaUy good mane. But none equalled the 

 lordly old chap who stood before me. It was very bad 

 sense to ''take on" one lion before settling with the 

 other; but the temptation was too great. I put a Spring- 

 field bullet in his shoulder, too. 



At the report of the rifle the lioness charged like a 

 flash. Nobody had said or done a thing to her. She 

 just wanted to prove that line about the ''female of the 

 species," I suppose. 



