GAME AND DISEASE 
807 
covered with the cast pupa-cases of the blow-flies ; yet even 
then I do not remember that they seemed very thick. It 
was not necessary to carefully cover one’s blankets during 
the day to keep them from getting fly-blown, as is the case 
in both Australia and New Zealand. 
In the southern game reserve, where I do not think it 
is any exaggeration to say that thirty thousand head of game — 
chiefly hartebeest and wildebeeste — were killed as meat for 
troops during military operations, we might have had a 
serious upset of nature, and the lions and other meat-eaters, 
defeated by man in the eternal struggle to keep alive, might 
have produced a possible reign of man-eaters and cattle- 
killers amongst the more or less defenceless natives. To a 
very small extent this has happened ; but the zebra, which 
did not interest the man shooting meat for the camp, remained 
to feed the lion, while the deaths amongst the horses and cattle 
fed and drew the carrion feeders. Hundreds of hyaenas followed 
the columns, and added to the horrors of a bush war : it was 
4 Heaven help ’ the wounded man who was not found by 
dark. As one who went through some of this fighting, I 
can say that, had I been left wounded, it would not have 
been long after dark before I fired my last shot, and at such 
close quarters that there would have been no possibility of a 
miss. 
Since the military operations passed southward and left 
the game reserve, there have been more complaints from the 
Masai of cattle-killers amongst the lion than I have ever heard 
before. However, these gentry are being dealt with, and I 
hope that we will soon have things quite quiet again. It is 
always recognised that where game is plentiful the lions seldom 
attack man or his cattle. In districts where at times game 
is plentiful, coming from another district, returning lions are 
often bad. They follow and feed on the game, settling down 
until, later, they suddenly find that the game has gone. As 
they are unable to get food, they become man-eaters, or elso 
rob the stock kraals. 
Practically all our man-eating lions of any fame have 
been in such districts, but there are of course exceptions 
to this. 
