The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



return late that afternoon they told the owner 

 of the station that when they arrived near the 

 place they saw five lions and lionesses eating the 

 carcass, most of the best of the meat being 

 consumed and the hide spoilt. I was extremely 

 sick at my bad luck in not having gone out with 

 them, for I should most assuredly have obtained 

 an easy shot at a lion, which was the height of 

 my ambition. I visited the place early next 

 morning, but the bones were picked clean, 

 nothing but a mangy hyaena being on the ground. 

 This I would not fire at, thinking I might still 

 have obtained a shot at the lions, but I was 

 unfortunately disappointed. 



On the rock above this station baboons held 

 their sway. There must have been a great many 

 of them, judging by the noise they made in the 

 evening and early morning. I went up early 

 one morning to a rocky plateau close to this big 

 rock and saw the stones that these apes had 

 turned over in their efforts to find something 

 edible. Some of the slabs I turned myself to 

 test the weight, which took quite an effort on 

 my part to perform. I was returning to break- 

 fast shortly after this, passing close to a part of 

 the large rock by a path that led to the house, 

 when I saw one of these apes looking at me 

 about twenty yards off. I put up my rifle, pre- 

 tending to shoot, and he at once ducked out of 

 sight as though he knew the use of fire-arms. I 



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