In Wildest Africa ^ 



the. trap and, fastened to a tree-trunk, was carried into 

 camp. 



•But what takes only a few words to describe involved 

 hours of work. It was a wonderful burden, and one not to 

 be seen every day! In my previous book I have already 

 described how we. carried a half-grown lion in a similar 

 manner, and I have given an illustration of the scene. 

 Unfortunately some of my best photographs, showing 

 my bearers carrying this full-grown lion, were lost while 

 crossing a river. 



I was full of delight at the thought of my captive as 

 he would appear in my encampment. But to my great 

 chagrin the lion died in it quite suddenly, evidently from 

 heart failure. We could find no trace of any wound. 



There was something really moving at this issue to the 

 struggle, in the thought that I, using wile against strength, 

 should have overpowered and captured this noble beast 

 only to break his heart ! 



This failure made me fear that I should never succeed 

 in capturing a lion by such methods. It seemed almost 

 better to use a large grating-trap in which it could be kept 

 for several days and gradually accustomed to the loss 

 of its freedom. But this meant an expensive apparatus 

 which was quite beyond the funds of a private individual 

 with narrow means like myself. My efforts to capture 

 lions by ' means of pits dug by the natives were quite 

 unsuccessful, because the lions always found a way out. 



A younger male lion which was entrapped lived for 

 nearly a - month chained up in my camp. This one had 

 hurt . its -^ paw when captured, and in spite of every care 



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