METHODS OF LION HUNTING 333 



plicity of an Eskimo igloo. When it was finished 

 there didn't seem to be the ghost of a chance of a 

 lion getting in; but at night, as I looked out, it 

 seemed frail indeed. Some dry grass was piled 

 inside, with blankets spread over it to prevent 

 rustling; and when night came we three, myself 

 and two gunbearers, wormed our way in and then 

 pulled some pieces of brush into the opening after 

 us. The rifles were sighted on the bait while it was 

 still daylight and at a spot where the expected lion 

 might appear. Then we waited. 



The customary nocturne by birds, beasts and 

 insects began before long, and several times hyenas 

 and jackals came to the bait, but no lions. The 

 boma was on the edge of a great swamp, miles in 

 extent and a great rendezvous for game of many 

 kinds. Theoretically, there couldn't be a better 

 place to expect lions, but nary a lion appeared that 

 night. 



Upon a later occasion Christmas night, it was 

 I watched from a boma near an elephant we had 

 killed, but except for the distant grunting of lions, 

 there was nothing important to chronicle. 



Lion hunting goes by luck. One man may sit 

 in a boma night after night without getting a shot, 

 while another may go out once and bring back a 

 black-mane. I spent two nights in a boma without 

 seeing a lion; Stephenson spent seven nights and 

 saw only a lioness. He held his fire in the expecta- 

 tion that the male was with her and would soon ap- 

 pear. Presently a huge beast appeared, vague in 



