Sport, Travel, and Adventure 



CHAPTER I 

 HUNTING THE LION 



THE records of big-game hunting are rich in 

 thrilling stories of adventure with lions, most of the 

 famous hunters having at least one exciting experience 

 to relate. That serious accidents are so few and far 

 between is due to the remarkable coolness displayed 

 by the sportsmen under the most trying conditions. 

 An excellent example of this is Mr. Vaughan Kirby's 

 hairbreadth escape while lion-hunting in the Kalahari 

 Desert, the account of which is given in Lieut. 

 Arnold W. Hodson's volume of sport and travel. 1 

 He says : " About 4 p.m. we set out for the baits, 

 each taking a span of eight oxen, with driver, leader, 

 and a spare boy. I had not intended accompanying 

 them, thinking that if I sent the native hunter, Seba- 

 ha, who was with me in the morning, he could fix 

 everything up, and thus give me a chance to collect 

 a few birds. Fortunately at the last moment I 

 changed my mind and set out with the span on foot, 

 carrying my old single '461 Metford. 



There was no sign of lions near the dead sassaby 



1 See Bibliography, i. 

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