330 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



Kensington are identical with those of the skull of the largest 

 lion shot by Colonel Arthur Paget in Somaliland, as given in 

 Mr. Ward's book of game measurements; the weight of the skull 

 is 5^ Ibs., or \ Ib. in excess of the weight of the very large skull 

 of a lion shot by Mr. Geddes in Eastern Africa, the measure- 

 ments of which are recorded in the same book. I took the ex- 

 treme length and the standing height of this lion very carefully; 

 taking the distance with a tape line between pegs driven in firstly 

 at the point of the nose and the tip of the tail, and secondly at 

 the top of the shoulder-blade and the ball of the forefoot, the 

 limb being held straight the while. These measurements give his 

 extreme length in a straight line as he lay dead as 9 ft. 1 1 ins., and 

 his vertical standing height to the top of the shoulder-blade as 

 3 ft. 8 ins. The height to the top of the mane, however, with 

 which his shoulders were thickly covered and which was his 

 apparent standing height, was exactly 4 ft. When the skin of 

 this lion was pegged out on the ground it measured 1 1 ft. 9 ins. 

 in extreme length from nose to tip of tail. 



The last lion which I shot, on October 3, 1892, near the 

 Pungwe river in South-Eastern Africa, was a very thick-set, 

 massive animal, and enormously fat. He would, I think, have 

 weighed very heavy, but unfortunately I had no scale with me. 

 I took a few careful measurements, however, which are as follows: 

 Length as he lay in a straight line between pegs driven into 

 the ground at the nose and tip of the tail, 9 ft. i in.; vertical 

 standing height at shoulder, 3 ft. 4 ins.; girth of body behind 

 the shoulders, 4ft. o| ins.; girth of forearm, 17 ins.; length 

 of pegged-out skin exactly n ft. If any conclusion can be 

 drawn from these few statistics, it is I think that a lion which 

 weighs much over 400 Ibs. is an exceptionally heavy animal. 



One of the most striking characteristics of the lion is his 

 roar, for there is no more magnificent sound in Nature than the 

 volume of sound produced by a party of lions roaring in unison, 

 that is, if one is fortunate enough to be very near to them. It 

 is, however, a rare occurrence to hear lions roar loudly within a 

 short distance of one's camp, and in all my experience, though 



