-^ The Capturing of a Lion 



first lion (which was unharmed save for a few skin 

 scratches), by a lack of bearers owing to famine and 

 other causes. 



I had found the tracks of a lioness with three quite 

 little cubs. I followed them for an hour over the velt — 

 they then got lost in the thick bush. As I had already 

 observed the tracks of this little band for several days, I 

 naturally concluded that the old lioness was making a stay 

 in the neighbourhood. So I decided, as one of my heifers 

 was ill from the tsetse sickness and bound to die, to pitch 

 my tent in the neighbourhood and to bait a trap with the 

 sick animal. 



I found water at about an hour and a half's distance 

 from the spot where I had observed the lion's tracks. I was 

 thus obliged to encamp at this distance away. Later on In 

 the evening, after much labour, I succeeded in setting a 

 trap in such a way that I had every reason to hope for 

 good results. 



In the early hours of the following morning I started 

 out, full of hope, to visit my trap. Already in the distance 

 I could see that my heifer was still alive, and I Immediately 

 concluded that the lions had sought the open. But It was 

 not so, for to my surprise I presently found fresh tracks of 

 the old lioness and her cubs. Evidently she had visited 

 the trap, but had returned into the bush without taking any 

 notice of the easy prey. The lie of the land allowed me 

 to read the lion's tracks imprinted into the ground as if 

 In a book. They told me that the cubs had at one point 

 suddenly darted to one side, their curiosity excited by a 

 land-tortoise whose back was now reflecting the rays of 



487 



