46 
ON SAFARI 
guns who (as above mentioned) had gone off in that 
direction. The first shot was put in by the Sub- 
Commissioner, Mr. C. W. Hobley. All three lionesses 
were dragged out of the covert by our “ boys/’ and laid 
in a row on the grass outside, where a scene of inde¬ 
scribable excitement ensued, the niggers dancing and 
jumping around the dead beasts to an accompaniment 
of shrieks, beating of tom-toms and other fearsome 
instruments, including biscuit-tins. 
I measured the two lionesses with which I was 
personally concerned. The first and larger of the two 
taped 8 ft. all but an inch ; the second was a trifle 
under 7 ft. All three had fed the night before on 
zebra, readily distinguishable by the masses of yellow fat. 
After skinning the lions, we tried two or three more 
beats of similar woods along the lake-shore, but with¬ 
out further success so far as lions were concerned. One 
incident, however, is deserving of mention. My position 
was in a small open surrounded by dense jungle—a sort 
of green-room, twenty yards square, walled-in by masses 
of viewless shrubs, lianas and creepers. One could see 
literally nothing beyond these narrow limits. There was 
one gun outside me, by the lake, and to him I had 
indicated my position. Where precisely the rest were 
