264 SAFARI 



the chief reason that it is probably one of the most 

 wonderful game tracts in the world. 



Not long after we entered it we fell in with forty 

 naked Lumbwa warriors in war paint also out after 

 lions. With them we had another chance to see the 

 big cats "at their worst." The native himters were 

 armed with long spears and small elliptical shields 

 covered only with buffalo hide. Each man had his 

 own idea of war paint both on himself and on his shield. 



When we came up the blacks were in a state of 

 great excitement. For days they had been working 

 themselves into a fever of courage and exhilaration in 

 order to nerve themselves for facing simba in his own 

 haunts. I must say I admired their boldness in 

 deliberately planning to fight lions with weapons as 

 fragile as theirs and with no sort of defense against 

 the animals' poisonous claws save their hide shields. 



The purpose of the hunt was not for trophies or for 

 meat. The native does not eat lion flesh; nor has he 

 any use for the skin save that he uses its claws in his 

 amulets. The whole movement was a defensive one; 

 a sortie against lions that had been attacking and 

 carrying off the black man's precious cattle. 



We paused to watch some of the killings. We 

 saw six in all. It was a thrilling nerve-racking 

 performance. 



First the natives ranged out in a line of advance 

 scouts. When a lion was located in the grass or brush 



