CHAPTER VIII. 



BIG GAME SHOOTING TRIPS, ADVENTURES 

 WITH LIONS, ETC. 



In those days the High Veld between the 

 Drakensberg and Heidelberg was swarming with 

 game, and in September and October, dense masses 

 of them would trek out of Natal to the Free State ; 

 the whole country was full of deep water pools con- 

 taining fine yellow fish, carp, tench and barbel. 

 These pools were surrounded with tall reeds and 

 rank grass, and lions in great numbers lurked in 

 these covers, for their prey. A Pole named Drodsky, 

 made a business of lion shooting, and always went 

 alone with one Hottentot, following him at a safe 

 distance with a spare gun and ammunition ; he was 

 greatly admired by the Boers for his cool courage 

 and is reported to have killed during the years he 

 lived on the Vaal River, some hundreds of lions, and 

 sold the skins and the cubs he sometimes caught. 



I have had wagons stampede at night, when 

 oxen saw or smelled lions, and one night when near 

 Cornelius River, I went to see what the dogs were 

 barking at, one brute nearly caught me, but I 

 never suffered real damage through them on the 

 High Veld, partly owing to my knowing the worst 

 places to avoid at night time ; besides they had so 

 much game that they were not hungry. These fine 

 water holes and morasses are now nearly all dried 

 up, and one-time rich grass and clover valleys are 

 dry ditches, due to sheep and goats tramping foot- 

 paths from one water hole to another, which in 

 flood time they soon cut into deep " dongas." The 



