THE LION IN SOUTH AFRICA 333 
carrying a 360-grain expanding bullet, with only a small hollow 
and a good solid end, a more trustworthy weapon than a rifle of a 
much larger bore carrying a short light bullet with a very large 
hollow. Doubtless a good °577-bore rifle is a much more 
powerful weapon than any ‘450; but the latter if carrying a 
good heavy bullet will be found very effective for lion shooting, 
and is not only lighter and handier than the larger rifle, but 
has no recoil, as the charge of powder is comparatively small. 
I will now conclude this chapter by giving an account of 
the death of the largest lion that it has been my fortune to 
bag—the same animal whose weight and dimensions I have 
given on p. 329. 
Towards the end of the second year of the occupation of 
Mashonaland by the British South Africa Company, I was 
sent to some of the mining camps to the north and west of 
Salisbury, in order to make a report upon the roads in those 
districts. On December 8, 1891, I reached Hartley Hills, one 
of the outlying stations of the British South Africa Company, 
where, at the time of my visit, there were about twenty 
| Europeans living, most of whom were employed in mining 
| work. Among the company’s officials were Mr. Woodthorpe 
Graham, the gold commissioner and chief magistrate of the 
district, and Dr. Edgelow, the district surgeon. For some 
days previous to my arrival at the station, the weather had 
been very rainy, and the sky dull and cloudy. Hartley Hills 
are, I may here say, two small ‘kopjes,’ formed of granite 
boulders piled up one upon another to a height of perhaps 
too feet above the surrounding country. On one of these 
- hills stood the stores and dwelling houses of Frank Johnson & 
_ Co., while the Gold Commissioner and the Doctor occupied 
_ the other ; and it was at the foot of the latter hill that I out- 
‘z spanned my waggon at a distance of not more than twenty 
q _ yards from Mr. Graham’s compound. As I knew that a great 
© deal of damage had been done lately by one particular lion, 
which had been seen on several occasions, and which was. 
always described as a very large animal with a fine mane, L 
