570 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 13, 1906. 
around before dark. When lions stop their 
noise, they are near camp. The lion's true roar 
makes the ground tremble. Nearby it makes 
a man’s hair stand. You know there is some¬ 
thing with which you cannot cope in the 
dark. 
In outspanning for the night, the ox yokes 
are usually laid in a semi-circle and the oxen 
tied to them by a rope, but inside the circle and 
facing outward. The fire is about at the center 
of the circle. The wagons are back of the fire. 
One night a monster lion crept up and sprang 
on a big ox at the wagon pole, seized the back 
of the neck with his teeth, turned the neck with 
his paw, and broke it instantly. On my ex¬ 
pressing surprise that the lion could do it so 
skilfully and quickly, Mr. D. replied, “That’s his 
business. He gets his living by doing such 
things.” 
One evening a lion suddenly seized a donkey 
within ten yards of the wagons, killed and drew 
it into a hollow quicker than I can' tell it. 
Several vollies were fired, but failed to dislodge 
the robber. Within one hour five lions were 
called there and feasted. In the morning only 
the “jacks’s” backbone could be found. Liter¬ 
ally all the rest had been eaten. 
One morning a lioness seized a “jack.” The 
native watchman came running into camp and 
shouted, “Philip (the jack’s name) is killed!” 
“What?” “A lion.” Philip was found in grass 
a foot high, but D. and B. could see no lion. 
Coming near the lioness was lying close behind 
the jack’s body, and jumped and ran. The dogs 
started in pursuit, and about twenty jacks, with 
ears laid back and hehawing as only they could, 
joined in the chase. It was very funny, even 
ridiculous, to see that lioness run. Soon the 
donkeys returned, but the dogs and men fol¬ 
lowed the game. This was soon brought to 
bay by the dogs, and B. fired at 100 yards, hit¬ 
ting the lioness which immediately charged. 
But at fifty yards she suddenly stopped, and B. 
fired again, hitting her squarely between the 
eyes and killing her on the spot. 
Late one afternoon the wagons and stock 
were outspanned on a point of land between a 
river and a donga, or deep gully. The river had 
three banks rising one above another. D.' and 
B. were working with axes near the river on its 
lowest bank. Suddenly they heard growls be¬ 
hind them, and turning saw a magnificent black- 
mane lion standing on the bank above, within 
twenty feet of them, and looking down on them 
grandly and growling low. “I shall never for¬ 
get his majestic look and attitude. He is photo¬ 
graphed indelibly on my memory,” said Mr. 
Danvers. The lion had sneaked in behind the 
two men as they were at work, and they were at 
his mercy. Their rifle’s were in the wagons; 
they had only axes—the situation was critical. 
They eyed him, and suddenly he sunk back and 
out of sight behind the bank on which he stood. 
Waiting a little, they made tracks for the 
wagons. The lion went into the donga. He was 
evidently out for supper and intended to get it. 
He held his position growling. They fired 
volley after volley in his direction, but he would 
not budge. As darkness came on, they built 
fires. The lion would not move. He wanted 
donkey meat and meant to have it. Finally D. 
took a dynamite cartridge and advanced cau- 
tionsly on the enemy, pushing out a line of fires 
toward the donga. He would build a fire, and 
then holding a fire-brand behind his back, ad¬ 
vance, say twenty feet, and start another. All 
the time two men stood behind him with rifles 
ready if the lion should make a rush on him. 
D.’s rifle was also ready. In this way he worked 
near enough to the bank of the donga for his 
purpose, lighted the short fuse of the dynamite 
cartridge, and threw it over the bank as near the 
lion as possible. In four seconds the explosion 
made the sand and gravel fly in great shape, and 
the lion dusted. It was extremely funny to hear 
him running up the donga, roaring as he went. 
They heard him for about an hour, but he 
troubled them no more. 
One night a lioness seized a “jack” as the 
donkeys were tied close to a camp. Mr. D. took 
a rifle and rushed outside the line of donkeys 
to keep them from stampeding. A little dog 
seeing him go, rushed impetuously after the 
lioness, but was soon running back straight for 
the blankets—and for life. The lioness was 
after him, and at, every leap emitted a low growl¬ 
like yeough! yeough. As D. saw the great 
yellow hulk in the air in the act of leaping past 
him, he put his rifle against the side and fired. 
The lioness leaped off sideways, tore up the dirt 
and gravel, and went off hard hit. 
In the morning other negroes found the spoor 
where it led into a thicket, and set fire to the 
grass to drive out the lioness. But she did not 
come out. They found her dead. The fire 
spoiled her skin. D. got the claws. His night 
shot had killed. 
He generally used a Martin-Henry rifle, .45 
caliber, and has shot specimens of all the large 
game of Africa except elephant and rhinoceros. 
What this means will be better appreciated by 
recalling the great exhibit of African game 
trophies shown by Mr. Douglas at the St. Louis 
fair and afterward in New York. Mr. Douglas 
told the writer that Africa has 132 varieties of 
game animals, and that he was showing speci¬ 
mens of 116 out of the 132. His collection was 
wonderfully interesting. Mr. Danvers has a 
large collection in London. When it shall be 
exhibited in New York (as the writer hopes it 
may) it will afford a rare treat. 
Asked about the poisonous snakes of Africa, 
Mr. Danvers mentioned two kinds that are very 
deadly in their bite. The mamba, which is about 
ten feet long and the size of a man’s finger. 
Once pursuing game in the jungle, D. suddenly 
saw a mamba hanging among the vines and 
tangle, and its head close to him. Fie instinc¬ 
tively put up his arms and crossed them over his 
eyes and stood still. When he dared look, the 
snake was gone. The puff-adder is also deadly. 
It is about two feet long and big as a man’s 
arm. You generally hear them puff as you ap¬ 
proach, and so you are warned. D. has killed 
many with a stick two feet long. But generally 
the “boys” do the killing. 
One afternoon D. strolled from camp with a 
shotgun to get some birds for supper. Glanc¬ 
ing toward the declining sun, he noticed a bright 
line on the ground some rods away. Looking 
in the same direction soon afterward, the line 
had moved, so he knew it was something. 
Walking softly toward it, he soon came up with 
a large python -moving slowly away and not 
having seen him. He fired at a spot a few feet 
back of the head and broke the serpent’s back. 
The head end lashed about and the jaws snapped 
terribly. .Wishing to preserve the skin and so, 
of course, not wanting to injure it any more 
if possible, D. undertook to finish the the killing 
with clubs. They were scarce in the vicinity and 
several broke in his hands. All the time the 
snake was snapping and switching viciously. 
Finally with a stick nearly as large as a fence 
rail, the reptile was subdued. When D. thought 
it was dead, he undertook to put a noose around 
its neck in order to drag it to camp for skinning. 
He put a forked stick down over the neck, as 
a precautionary measure, and holding it with 
one hand, was just ready to slip the noose over 
the head with the other, when, presto!—the head 
was snatched back like lightning. “I must have 
jumped ten feet right backward,” said Mr. D., 
in describing his escape. He then finished the 
killing for sure, noosed the snake as planned, 
and dragged it to camp. It created great con¬ 
sternation among the “boys.” They said its 
mate would certainly follow the trail to camp 
and kill some of them in the night. Not one 
of them would sleep on the ground. They spent 
the night in trees. Mr. D. slept in his usual 
place under a wagon and was not disturbed. 
The python was thirteen feet in length. That 
there was some foundation for the terror of the 
natives was proved by a well authenticated inci¬ 
dent in Natal. A gentleman there shot a python, 
and taking it home, hung it over a chair in his 
library. Being an inveterate joker, he then went 
to his wife-, and after a little—saying nothing of 
his kill—asked her to go to the library and bring 
his house coat. Fie thought to give her a 
scare, but she did not return. Going to the 
library in search, he found her dead in the 
folds of a monster python wound about and 
crushing her against the very chair on which he 
had hung the dead one. Fie shot this python. 
but soon went mad from grief, and was taken 
to an asylum. 
Mr. Danvers’ knowledge of the natives of 
southern Africa is very intimate, and his confi¬ 
dence in them is proportionally large. He says 
they are usually kind and trustworthy—re¬ 
sponsive to kind treatment and faithful to it. 
Trouble is generally made by white wickedness 
of some sort. Only very occasionally are force 
and severity necessary. When such occasions 
do come, great firmness and absolute fearless¬ 
ness are requisite. The Mashonas wear a dag¬ 
ger six inches long in a wooden sheath hung 
by a cord around the neck and ready for instant 
use. A chief’s dagger is a foot long and worn 
the same way. Other tribes have equally char¬ 
acteristic weapons. The sportsman often arms 
his “boys” with muskets for the killing of game 
and for defense if necessary. The natives do 
not hesitate to ask food or other help from the 
white man. They expect' it of him if they are 
in need. To his “Why should I give you 
anything? You are a stranger. I don’t know 
you.” They reply, “You are a chief, and there¬ 
fore you should.” It is good policy to give to 
them. They never forget it. And if you should 
meet one whom you had thus befriended hun¬ 
dreds of miles from the place, he would re¬ 
member and be ready to return your kindness. 
Many such instances occurred in my experience. 
Once Mr. Danvers was traveling afoot with a 
mounted white man, who had engaged natives 
to take him to a certain place. On the way they 
deserted. The man did not know what to do. 
D. said, “We’ll get them.” D. and the white 
man had each a rifle and revolvers, and D.’s 
“boy” had two revolvers. Thus equipped, they 
went into the kraal, where the deserters had 
taken refuge among 300 or 400 other natives, and 
ordered them out. The men hesitated. D. said, 
“Come out or we’ll shoot you!” Some other 
natives started for some muskets that stood in 
a corner of the kraal. D. said, “Touch them 
and we’ll shoot you!” The deserters were se¬ 
cured without trouble and completed their con¬ 
tract. Juvenal. 
A Bank Swallow Nesting Colony. 
Saginaw, Mich— Editor Forest and Stream: 1 
inclose a negative taken on the Grand Casca- 
pedia river, Quebec. The boat was moving 
rapidly down stream (I stood in a canoe to take 
the photograph). My object in sending it is to 
show the bank swallows’ nests and the changes 
the river makes. This land was a meadow that 
formerly extended into the river probably fifty 
or seventy-five feet more than it does now— 
that is, within my memory, extending back ten 
or twelve years. You will notice great clumps 
of turf that have fallen down from the meadow 
bank, and right underneath the grassy bank the 
swallows have formed their usual nesting 
colony. There are several places on the lower 
Cascapedia river, where we were salmon fish¬ 
ing, where I noticed these colonies of swallows, 
hundreds of them; this one occupies an area 
about two acres in length. 
The wearing away of the banks continually 
changes the river. Bars will form on the op¬ 
posite side from where the water eats away 
the soil on the other. Then some old trees and 
drift wood will lodge in some other spot and 
begin to build up. W. B. M'ershon. 
Wild Pigeons in Kentucky. 
While down home in Louisville, Ky.. June 27, 
I observed about sixteen wild passenger pigeons 
in one flock, about 100 yards up in the air—too 
high to be absolutely certain, though satisfied 
myself. On Aug. 3 I saw a pair in the same 
neighborhood that were flying not more than 
twelve feet high. I was on high ground. They 
were not more than thirty yards away. Their 
blue-dappled bodies, pointed tails and somewhat 
dove-like flight satisfied me what they were. 
They came from southwest and were headed 
northeast. They were about two miles south of 
the Ohio river. They were the first I nave 
seen for a great number of years, and I was 
delighted. Fred W. Thornber. 
