MY FIRST LION 101 



it will be shorter and more torn. But no lions foraging 

 for themselves in any country grow finer or indeed as fine 

 manes, as do the old fellows who grow fat and are well 

 looked after in the cold air of the London Zoological Gar- 

 dens. Black-maned lions are quite common up here 

 on this high and cold region, and are extremely rare any- 

 where else in the Protectorate. A few are shot in the Mau 

 "highlands" clothed like these. But the Mau valleys are 

 settled, and lions are already hunted down. In Somali- 

 land lions are often half-starved and never seem to attain 

 the size they commonly reach here. There, too, they hunt 

 in extremely thorny cover, and as a consequence are almost 

 without mane. I should say, speaking from memory only, 

 the measurements of Somali lions and lionesses are almost 

 a foot shorter.* The time of year in which the lionesses 

 withdraw from the male is of importance to the hunter. 

 During May, June, and July the sexes seem to keep com- 

 pany. It was in June and July I came on three bands of 

 lions, nine, ten, and eight respectively, in five days, hunting. 

 Lions and lionesses were all running together. In two 

 cases I, as I know now, recklessly followed them up, after 

 wounding one one day, and two another, for hours and 

 hours, mile after mile, on foot, in the long grass, pressing 

 on to finish the animals I had wounded. Had I been fol- 

 lowing one or two lionesses with cubs instead of large, 

 mixed bands, I must have been charged and charged home. 

 As it was, though, they growled a good deal just ahead of 

 me, and on either side, and sometimes came within a few 

 yards, I was never charged. When lionesses are alone they 

 are exceedingly dangerous. Indeed, a lioness is, I think 

 I am safe in saying, 100 per cent, more dangerous than 

 a lion. She has a way of crouching so flat on the yellow 

 ground that even in grass no more than two feet high it is 

 hard to see her. Such a lioness caused the first accident 



* Since returning to Europe I have verified this statement. 



