TANGANYIKA LIONS 277 



promptly did. But she in turn was soon ousted 

 by a big lion which I took to be her husband. 



It was getting late and we were ready to go home 

 when another big lioness came along. She soon 

 showed she was in no mood for social amenities. 

 She sighted us at a distance of about a hundred yards 

 and at once came bounding toward us. We re- 

 treated quickly to show her we didn't want to inter- 

 fere. The minute we moved she stopped and lashed 

 her tail angrily. Then she came on again. Once 

 more we retired and she followed. 



Of cotirse we could have shot her. We had our 

 rifles all ready in case she made it necessary for us 

 to resort to them. But we did not wish to shoot 

 and spoil the wonderful adventure of Lion Valley. 



Finally she seemed to realize that we were deter- 

 mined to get out of the way if she would only give 

 us the chance. I think the trouble was simply that 

 she had seen us hanging about her diggings all day 

 and was tired of our presence. Four times we 

 stopped and four times she came at us, then lay with 

 lashing tail and watched us while we ran. Mean- 

 while in the distance we could see other lions who had 

 left the chasing entirely to the lioness. I will say 

 she made a good job of it, as we didn't have the nerve 

 to go back. 



We paid a number of other visits to the place ; and 

 we studied lions at close range to our heart's content, 



