A NEAR SHAVE WITH A LIONESS. 
1 99 
a lion, for it is pure luck stumbling on them in these 
parts where bush is everywhere thick and vast. I 
regret to say that, owing to the damp atmosphere, the 
skin of the body became completely spoilt, but I 
managed to save that of the head. 
Though we only killed three lions during the whole 
of our expedition, B-, on his recent trip, was for¬ 
tunate enough to kill several, though not without 
having an almost miraculous escape from one. As he 
only casually mentions the incident in the postscript, 
attached at the end of this narrative, I think it may 
prove interesting to give some of the facts as related to 
me by himself. 
He had wounded a lioness and was following her up, 
perhaps somewhat incautiously, through the bush, when 
suddenly, and without other warning than a terrific roar, 
she sprang out upon him from a thick clump. B-—-— 
fired, and then bent down to see through the smoke if 
he had stopped her; while in this stooping position, 
he felt the wind of her body as she passed over his 
left shoulder, and at once turning round, shot her 
dead with his second barrel as she alighted after her 
spring, before she could turn on him again. He had 
missed her clean with his first shot, and but for his 
bending down, and the smoke, which no doubt in some 
measure deranged her aim, she must have caught him. 
On returning to camp I found a letter had arrived 
from Jackson, stating that one of our party had shot 
so close to him that the rifle-reports had put off two 
lions he was stalking, and at another time had moved 
