204 
EASTERN ETHIOPIA 
XVI 
over me to examine the prickle hidden in the tuft of 
long hair at the tip of the tail. 
Much of the doubt about this prickle at the end of 
the lion’s tail is due to the fact that poetical imagination 
has pictured the lion goading himself to fury by lashing 
himself with the tail; this is a fable ; the lion could not 
even scratch himself with this caudal spike. 
The lion at Aden illustrated very forcibly that, like 
other cats, he was nocturnal in habits ; during daylight 
he remained quiet and often slept soundly, but at even¬ 
tide he woke up, and as the darkness deepened he placed 
his paws on the top rail of the verandah and roared at 
the “ niggers ” in the street below. 
The lion in British East Africa must be considered 
from the point of view of the sportsman and of the settler. 
This great cat abounds in the Protectorate especially in 
its high plateaus, and it has been killed at an altitude of 
6,200 feet by Major Powell-Cotton ; but it thrives best 
at a moderate elevation. Lions are always numerous 
where zebra and antelope abound ; to these and similar 
animals they are a nightly terror. Lions often move 
about in company : Mr. F. J. Jackson saw a troop of 
twenty-three near Machakos, and Mr. Newman once saw 
fifteen together north-east of Kenia. Soon after the 
construction of the Uganda Railway the lions were a 
great nuisance as well as a real menace to those who 
worked on the line, and a reward of 200 rupees was 
offered to those who killed a lion. It happend that the 
driver of a traction engine saw a troop of seven lions, 
and he managed in one morning to shoot the lot and 
thus secured 1,400 rupees. 
The fascination of lion shooting is easy to understand. 
There are five formidable game animals in Africa :— 
the lion, elephant, buffalo, rhinoceros and leopard ; it 
is only necessary to visit the country to find evidence 
among the sportsmen of personal damage, and many 
bold and experienced hunters have lost their lives 
in encounters with these dangerous beasts, It is 
