Novel Hyena Trap 
the one hand at Fontesvilla, on the other at 
Chimoio, one hundred and twenty miles off. 
Each mile of this railway, the gauge of which, 
when I passed over it, was but two-feet-four, 
was marked by a wooden post which was known 
locally as a “peg”; thus the railway officials 
spoke of the seven-mile peg, seventeen-mile peg, 
and so on, to represent the distance from Fontes- 
villa. For the first forty miles the track is laid 
through a very flat country ; here game could 
be seen in any quantity on both sides of the 
line, the commonest species being quagga, blue 
wildebeest, hartebeest, sassaby, bushbuck, and 
sometimes buffalo, lion, and, more rarely, ele- 
phants. Lions were extremely plentiful on this 
large plain, which was not to be wondered at, 
Seeing that there was so much game for them to 
prey on. Whilst on the subject of lions, I may 
mention that on my return journey two months 
later to Fontesvilla I met at this place a Mr. 
Lamb, who went up the following morning 
after my arrival to forty-mile peg to try and 
Shoot some buffalo. At or near the seventeen- 
mile peg he saw twelve lions cross the railway 
track in front of the train! He had his rifle 
with him, and shot at several of them, wounding 
one lioness, which, however, he failed to bag. 
The country now had most of the long grass 
burned off it, so that it was possible to see what 
game there was in the district. The young grass 
G 81 
