THE LION COUNTRY 



contrary, the game is plainly visible from a distance 

 of several miles, and can nearly always be approached 

 to within from 150 to 250 yards before taking flight. 

 One has plenty of time to place oneself, to calculate 

 the distance, and to pick out one's animal, and since, 

 at such a range, and with a good rifle, there is no real 

 sport in hitting the vital parts of an antelope the size 

 of a cow, I cannot class these stalks among the best 

 kinds of big game shooting. 



The only thing that really interested me was trying 

 to entice an animal to the spot where I wanted to set 

 a bait for lions. As I have already stated, I used to 

 choose, from among the herds feeding on the plain, 

 one which could be approached from the windward. 

 Placing five or six negroes in line, I made them walk 

 as in a battue. I always kept on one of the flanks. 

 So soon as we were within 200 yards of the animals, 

 they took to flight, then stopped, and we continued 

 to drive them before us. When I thought we had 

 reached the place where I wanted to lay my bait, I 

 executed a turning movement. This menace invari- 

 ably produced a great panic. The whole herd, led by 

 an old male, set out in line, galloping hastily towards 

 our moving wing, and as soon as the animals thought 

 themselves out of the danger with which they were 

 threatened by the enclosing movement they stopped 

 stupidly at about 150 yards distance, sometimes 

 nearer, offering me a splendid target almost impossible 

 to miss. 



(123) 



