28 



THE NATIONAL, GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photo by Kermit Roosevelt 

 Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons 



ANKOU LARGE- HORNED CATTLE : UGANDA 



ing to hunt was the lion. I must tell one 

 anecdote at the expense of two of my 

 scientific companions. Dr. Mearns and 

 Messrs. Heller and Loring all regarded 

 the sporting part of the expedition as a 

 pardonable but illegitimate incident of 

 the trip, and the only anxiety that I ever 

 knew any of them to display in connec- 

 tion with dangerous game was that we 

 should not spoil the skull of a good 

 specimen. One day when I was absent 

 from camp Mearns and Loring were 

 notified by a couple of Masai that two 

 lions had killed a zebra a few miles off, 

 and that if they would come out they 

 could get them. They tossed up on the 

 way as to which should have the lion 

 and which the lioness, and Dr. Mearns 

 drew the lioness. When they got there the 

 lion had gone, so it was the Doctor's turn 

 to shoot. He had been cautioning Lor- 

 ing on no account to shoot the animal 



in the head and spoil the specimen. 

 But now the lioness put her head out 

 of the bush directly toward the Doc- 

 tor. He couldn't violate his princi- 

 ples and take the head shot; so 

 Loring fired, hit the lioness, and it 

 came for him. The Doctor's sport- 

 ing blood was now up. He felt that 

 it was not fair to interfere in an 

 obviously equal match between Lor- 

 ing and the lioness ; and, besides, if 

 he shot at it he might hit the skull. 

 Accordingly Loring was left to him- 

 self. He had a small automatic rifle ; 

 he put five bullets into the lioness 

 and killed her ; but she came right to 

 his feet and stumbled past him 10 

 or 15 feet before she died. I think 

 that Loring felt that he would have 

 been willing that the Doctor should 

 for a moment waive his scientific 

 and sporting feelings and shoot the 

 lioness ! 



The most interesting thing I saw 

 in Africa was a feat that was infi- 

 nitely greater than anything we per- 

 formed with our rifles, although not 

 greater than a feat that was recently 

 performed in the same region by 

 three American plainsmen, Buffalo 

 Jones, Loveless, and Mearns, who 

 roped a lion, a giraffe, and a rhino, and 

 have got moving photographs of them. 

 It was one of the really most notable 

 feats I have ever known to be performed 

 in hunting. 



We saw the Nandi spearmen kill a lion 

 with their spears, and I shall close my 

 lecture by telling you about it. These 

 people are a northern branch of the 

 Masai. They are a splendid race physi- 

 cally — tall, sinewy fellows. The warriors 

 carry ox-hide shields and very heavy 

 spears, seven or eight feet long, the long- 

 bladed head of soft iron kept with a 

 razor edge and the iron of the rear half 

 of the spear ending in a spike, the only 

 wood that is bare being just about enough 

 to give a grip for the hand. The brightly 

 burnished head is about four feet in 

 length. These Nandi came over on pur- 

 pose to show me how they killed a lion 

 with their spears. 



