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The Capturing of a Lion 



was badly mauled by lions, has since had more than 

 one fellow-sufterer in this respect. 



Captain Chauncy Hugh-Stegand, who, like Mr. Hall 

 and so many other hunters of other nationalities, had been 

 several times injured by rhinoceroses, was once within 

 an ace of being killed by a lion which he encountered 

 by night, and which he shot at and pursued. Severely 

 wounded, and cured almost by a miracle, he had to 

 return to England to regain his health. " Such are 

 the casualties of sportsmen in Central and East Africa " 

 is the dry comment of Sir Harry Johnston in his preface- 

 to the English edition of my book IVz^A Flashlight and 

 Rifle. 



When I read about such adventures I call to mind 

 vividly my own. I live through them all again, and the 

 magic of these experiences reawakes in me. 



To-day I would fain give the reader some account 

 of the capturing of lions. Not of captures made by 

 means of a net, such as skilful and brave men used in 

 olden days to throw over the king of beasts, thus 

 disabling him and putting him in their power, but of a 

 capture that was not without its many intense and 

 exciting moments. 



Proud Rome saw as many as five hundred lions die 

 in the arena in one day. That was in the time of Pompey. 

 Nearly two thousand years have passed since then, and one 

 may safely affirm that in the intervening centuries very 

 few lions have been brought to Europe that were caught 

 when full grown in the desert. The many lions that are 

 brought over to our continent are caught when young, 



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