46 



ON SAFAEI 



auns who (as above mentioned) had gone off in that 

 direction. The first shot was put in by the Sub- 

 Commissioner, Mr. C. W. Hobley. All three lionesses 

 were dragged out of the covert by our " boys," and laid 

 in a row on the grass outside, where a scene of inde- 

 scribable excitement ensued, the niggers dancing and 

 jumping around the dead beasts to an accompaniment 

 of shrieks, beating of tom-toms and other fearsome 

 instruments, including biscuit-tins. 



I measured the two lionesses with which I was 

 personally concerned. The first and larger of the two 



.4 < 



SAVAGES DANCING AKOUXD DEAD LIONESSES. 



taped 8 ft. all but an inch ; the second was a trifle 

 under 7 ft. All three had fed the night before on 

 zebra, readily distinguishable by the masses of yellow fat. 

 After skinning the lions, we tried two or three more 

 beats of similar woods along the lake-shore, but with- 

 out further success so far as lions were concerned. One 

 incident, however, is deserving of mention. My position 

 was in a small open surrounded by dense jungle — a sort 

 of green-room, twenty yards square, wallecl-in by masses 

 of viewless shrubs, lianas and creepers. One could see 

 literally nothing beyond these narrow limits. There was 

 one gun outside me, by the lake, and to him I had 

 indicated my position. Where precisely the rest were 



