XVIII 



LIONS 



THERE are, no doubt, as many lions in equatorial 

 Africa as there are in other parts of the "Dark 

 Continent." Yet lions are more rarely met with there 

 and much more difficult to hunt than in other places 

 where horses can live or dogs be used. In Somaliland, 

 for instance, one may scour the wide plain on horse- 

 back and pursue the lions until they are brought to bay ; 

 in South Africa dogs may be used; in East Africa one 

 has to get along without horses or dogs. 



A hunter in tropical East Africa meets lions during the 

 day, mostly by mere chance, and then he has not always 

 his rifle at hand; or he has to watch at night for the 

 passing of the lion, a method which is not very much to 

 my taste. No doubt, one may at night have splendid 

 success shooting from a higher stand or from out a 

 secure thorn thicket. Count Coudenhove, for instance, 

 shot in one night seven lions which were prowling about 

 a dead elephant. His account of this thrilling adventure 

 is, in my opinion, truthful, straightforward, and without 

 embellishment. The count admits, also, that he felt 



197 



