130 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



in the open they probably growl from behind a bush 

 or patch of grass, where one cannot see anything 

 definite to shoot at. 



While living at Mlanje in 1911 some natives came and 

 told me that a lion had killed a bushpig in some thick grass 

 on the slope of a hill. I went off, and, after a w r alk of five 

 miles or so, came to the place. The grass was not only 

 thick, but it was over loft. high. I asked the natives to 

 spread out and come in with me, but they refused, saying 

 this was a very fierce lion. I knew it was foolish going 

 into such a place without the backing of another gun or 

 two, but I was keen to get a shot, so in I went. I had not 

 gone twenty yards when there was a series of very loud 

 grunts and growls, and the thick grass began to break. 

 I was so enveloped that I did not know at first whether 

 the lion was coming on or bolting, so I held my rifle 

 ready and waited. He went past me, and I could not 

 see a hair, although I saw the tops of the grass bending 

 before him. 



I then went out of the grass into a small patch of open 

 ground, which was part of a native garden. The natives 

 then pelted the grass with stones and lumps of mud, and 

 the lion shifted several times, but refused to face the open. 

 After this had gone on for about an hour, an old man, who 

 was sitting on a rise some distance off, shouted to me 

 that he could see the lion's head, so I ran over, and, after 

 following the direction he pointed, I saw it too. I sat 

 down, and missed the first shot ; but, at the second, the 

 head seemed to topple over, and I thought I had got him ; 

 but I was mistaken, for soon after we saw him get into 

 some thick cover. In passing into this cover he did not 

 show, and we only saw the grass and bushes swaying as 

 he passed. It was now late in the afternoon, so I decided 

 to get home and return with a friend next day. However, 

 nothing more came of it, and I cannot say whether I hit 

 him or not. Certainly, if I did so, it was not a good hit. 

 A lion's head at a distance, enveloped in thick, dry grass 

 of the same colour, is not a satisfactory target. 



