WILD MAN AND WILD BEAST IN 



AFRICA 



33 



m4 



Photo by Kermit Roosevelt. Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons 



ARAB SHEIKS THAT CAME} IN FROM THE DESERTS ; KHARTUM 



that man, but could not bite him, only 

 clawing him a little. Another spear 

 struck the lion, and he went down ; he 

 took one spear in his mouth and bit it, 

 twisting it so that it looked like a 

 horseshoe ; the next moment the men 

 were on him and it was all over. I do 

 not suppose the thing lasted ten seconds, 

 but it was as remarkable a spectacle for 

 those ten seconds as any human being 

 could wish to see. I had one funny 

 after-experience in connection with it. 

 The two men were pretty well mauled, 

 and when we were putting' disinfectant 

 into the wounds it hurt them a little, 

 and I thought it would cheer them up to 

 tell them, through the interpreter, that I 

 would give each of them a heifer. It 

 cheered up those two all right, but all 

 the other men were very angry ! They 

 thought that these men had got their 



share of honors already, and that it was 

 a most unjustifiable thing for me to give 

 them heifers in addition. 



I have never passed a more interesting 

 eleven months than I passed in Africa. 

 From the standpoint of the man inter- 

 ested in geography, in geology, in natu- 

 ral history, in ethnology, I do not know 

 how any one could put in his time to a 

 greater advantage than in a trip of that 

 nature. I am more than glad that I was 

 able to take it in a manner worth taking, 

 because the Smithsonian Institution sent 

 me out as the head of a scientific expe- 

 dition. I think I can say that we did 

 our work in such a manner as not to cast 

 discredit upon the American nation, and 

 I am extremely pleased that I should 

 have had the chance to make my first 

 speech on the subject under the auspices 

 of this Society this evening. 



