SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 228 



place where several lions had been lying in the 

 sand. The first lion, however, which we saw, 

 was at a place near the swamp. I was hunting 

 with the two gun-bearers, and a lion was sighted, 

 standing in the grass, at a distance from us of 

 about 250 yards. Tagarru wanted me to fire, but 

 only the head was visible, and it was not possible 

 to see exactly how the animal was standing. The 

 shot was therefore a very difficult one, and I 

 decided to try to approach nearer. The lion 

 slunk away, however, in the grass and entered 

 thorn scrub, and we saw nothing more of him. 

 This lion, in all probability, had never seen a man 

 before, black or white, and it was reasonable to 

 suppose that he would have allowed us to approach 

 fairly near ; but the instinctive fear of man, which 

 animals possess, caused him to move off. 



The next lion we saw was in the country between 

 the Guaso Nyiro and Meru, when we were on our 

 return journey from the Lorian. When you have 

 eaten tough and insipid antelope-meat for several 

 days a succulent guinea-fowl is a gift from the 

 gods ; and, having found a place where these birds 

 were abundant, we devoted one morning to a 

 guinea-fowl shoot. We had begun well, and had 

 shot three or four, when we heard a lion grunting 

 not far away. The shot-guns were exchanged for 

 rifles, and we started in pursuit. The grunting 

 continued, and gave us a line, and, as we were 

 following it, I saw a fine-maned lion, about five 

 or six hundred yards away, standing upon some 

 slightly rising ground and looking steadily at us. 

 After gazing at us for some time, he had a look to his 

 right and then to his left, apparently to make sure 



