96 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



Some notes I have about deaths to white men include 

 that of Prince Ruspoli, who was killed in Somaliland by an 

 elephant. Then Colonel Armstrong and Mr. York met 

 their deaths in Uganda in the same way. 



Mr. F. L. James, also, was trampled to death by an 

 elephant in West Africa, and Mr. Ingram was another 

 victim to the same species. 



Mr. Selous mentions the death of an Englishman named 

 Firmin in 1870, and a Swede named Dr. Wahlberg also 

 was killed by an elephant in Matabeleland. 



When Matabeleland and Mashonaland were taken over, 

 a good many white men were killed by lions, and the death- 

 roll in British East Africa must be very large indeed. 



Yet a famous surgeon who visited that country on a 

 non-sporting tour wrote some derogatory remarks about 

 lion hunting. 



Certainly, shooting lions after running them down with 

 a pack of dogs is not a particularly sporting method, and 

 neither is a beat composed of several hundred natives, and 

 perhaps five or six guns ; but if a white man tackles a 

 single lion or a troop of lions all by himself, accompanied 

 only by a gunbearer carrying a second rifle, he will get as 

 much healthy excitement as he requires. Certainly, if the 

 famous surgeon had gone in for this sport in the way 

 mentioned, his statements would be vastly different. He 

 had only to ask any resident doctor in Nairobi for a few 

 details as to the people who have been treated there after 

 being mauled by lions, to have got at the truth, which 

 would have resulted in his expressing different ideas on 

 the subject. 



It is fairly well known nowadays that lions kill by biting, 

 and only use their claws for gripping or to pull an object 

 to their mouths. The paralysing effect of their bites seems 

 to cause a numbness at the time, although soon afterwards 

 the wounds become excessively painful. A lion does not 

 use his paws to give a blow, like a tiger does, as was the 

 popular idea long ago. He is said to come along the 

 ground like a large dog, and on reaching his victim to 



