Lion Shooting in Rhodesia. 
N 1903 the railway, which now runs from 
luwayo to the Kafukwe River in northwestern 
odesia, only reached as far as the Wanki coal 
ne, some 120 miles south of the Victoria 
11s—now being a favorite tourist resort—but 
that time we had to make the journey by 
lock wagon. This means of traveling was 
g and tedious, but not without its exciting 
idents. 
.Vanki was a well known place for lions and 
ny were shot and killed there. By killed, I 
an destroyed by gun traps. The further north 
5 traveled from the Zambesi River, the more 
quently one found lions, and sometimes many 
ether. 
Vbout this time I had charge of a large herd 
Government cattle, north of Ivalomo, which 
about 120 miles north of the Victoria Falls, 
1 naturally lions were attracted by the herd, 
1 I had some very good sport. 
)ne afternoon I started from my camp to go 
ling in the river which was close by. Hav- 
no rod, I took a long Mashi Kolombi assegai, 
ese assegais are long and tapered and are 
te a good substitute for a rod. After going 
out a quarter of a mile I remembered the ad- 
e of a friend, which was “never to leave your 
np without a rifle.” So I sent back the 
rotse boy who accompanied me, to fetch my 
ible .450-400. 
Valking slowly along the right bank of the 
' er, I suddenly came upon some big pad marks 
the sand, and up to that time never having 
n a lion pad or track, I could not quite make 
my mind what it was. On cutting across a 
id of the river I came to a small thorn bush, 
1 I soon discovered to what animals the pad 
rks belonged. There, within ten yards of 
, were two lionesses stretched out fast asleep. 
' footsteps must have awakened one, for she 
i up, and yawning stretched herself like a 
at cat. To say that I was in a flunk is not 
describe my feelings. There I was alone, 
hin a few paces of two of these brutes, with- 
: a firearm of any kind, and even if I had 
1 I believe that I was too close to have fired, 
would have been a very different thing had 
re been only one lion. I carefully backed 
iy, getting the thorn bush between myself 
[l the lions, and at this moment my boy ar- 
i id with my rifle. 
1 'hoving in two cartridges, I waited. I knew 
lionesses would not cross the river, and there 
13 an open space of about 100 yards between 
thorn bush and the long grass over which 
y would be obliged to pass. I had not long 
wait. Out jumped one, bounded about fifty 
ds and stopped. I hit her fair and square 
! ind the shoulder and over she went. I was 
excited that I could not load quickly, but at 
I got another cartridge in and again waited. 
: second came out with a rush, stopping about 
' snty-five yards off. I fired twice in quick 
' :ession, missing each time. She went again 
1 ut twenty-five yards and then stood; again 
bang, bang, with no result but that she started 
lashing her stern. Turning to the boy I told 
him to stick by me or I would make better 
shooting at him than I had at the lion, and again 
I fired. With two bounds she was in the long 
grass, and nothing would induce the boy to 
follow her. No doubt he had more wisdom 
than I, for naturally in the long grass the ad¬ 
vantage is entirely with the lion. However, we 
fired it and found the remains of our friend of 
course entirely spoilt within about twenty yards 
of the edge, so my shot must have been fatal. 
The other one was a very old lioness, with 
hardly any teeth, and with her fangs much worn. 
When old like this, lions cannot kill their own 
food without difficulty and so are likely to be¬ 
come man-eaters. 
About two weeks later—we had been trek¬ 
king slowly along in the interim—one morning 
early I espied a fine herd of sable antelope with 
one exceptionally nice bull. Now, to my mind, 
of all the antelope that one finds in Africa com¬ 
mend me to the sable. There is only one term 
for him, which is magnificent. I started my 
stalk, and although the wind was right I noticed 
that these bucks were very much on the qui vive. 
The ground was absolutely open, no trees and 
only a few large ant-heaps for cover, and the 
stalk was distinctly difficult. Getting to within 
about 300 yards, as I thought, I chanced my 
shot and had the chagrin to see the bullet hit 
up the dust under the buck’s belly. Away went 
the sable, but to my surprise I saw three animals 
coming toward me, which for a moment I took 
for pigs, but another moment showed me they 
were lions; one lion and two lionesses. There 
was nothing to do but wait, and I had only my 
.303 Lee-Metford with me, much preferring that 
for buck to a heavier rifle. 
On they came, nearer and nearer, until they 
were within about forty yards, when I fired, 
knocking over one of the lionesses, but she 
jumped to her feet and again I fired and down 
she went, but once more regained her feet. 
One more shot and she lay quiet. The other 
two stood looking. Jerking in as I thought an¬ 
other cartridge, and also thinking—I remember 
it so well—you are going to make a good 
bag to-day, I aimed at the other lioness and 
fired, but no report followed. I had no more 
cartridges and had forgotten to change my 
magazine before starting. There the lions stood 
perfectly still, looking at me and I at them. 
Well, I started to shout with all my might 
and main, and the boys having heard the shots 
came running up and the two lions ran off. For 
several days I tried to find these two again, but 
without success, but they were around regularly 
every night grunting, making the cattle very un¬ 
easy. 
The corrals I had built for the cattle were 
very strong and high and bound with rawhide. 
Still, two nights later, the cattle stampeded and 
broke through them as if the fence had been 
made of straw. It was raining hard and very 
dark and I made the boys take up the spoor 
with the aid of torches, but that night we were 
absolutely unsuccessful in finding them, but on 
the following day recovered every head. 
Since leaving northwestern Rhodesia I have 
been in British East Africa. Game there of 
course is a marvelous sight, hundreds and thou¬ 
sands in a herd, of every kind and description, 
but for good, honest sport give me Rhodesia 
every time. You have to work hard for your 
bag, but the satisfaction is very much greater 
and, as a rule, I think heads run larger. Of 
course with sable and roan there is no compari¬ 
son. In British East Africa the sable are very 
small and found only on the coast, and roan are 
far from plentiful. Certainly, if a large bag is 
wanted in a short space of time, go to Nairobi, 
British East Africa. A Full Hand. 
Not Even a Coffee Pot. 
Chambersburg, Pa., Nov. 12.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: I want to tell you of a week’s 
trip my friend Bill and I had this fall, which 
was a little out of the ordinary, as we carried 
no cooking utensils of any kind. 
We had been planning the trip since last sea¬ 
son and had talked about it a little. Some of 
our friends said we would starve, but we con¬ 
tended that we would not starve, but would live 
high. 
Our outfit consisted of two double twelve- 
gauge guns, fifty shells each, a small axe, some 
nails, two heavy woolen blankets with rubber 
on one side. 
Our provisions were 12 pounds flour, 10 pounds 
corn meal, 20 pounds bacon, 25 pounds potatoes, 
3 pounds butter, 2 pounds coffee, 5 pounds salt 
and y 2 pound baking soda. These done up in 
heavy canvas pack bags made in all about seventy 
pounds apiece. 
Our bread—dodgers—was made with flour or 
corn meal, warm water and soda and was baked 
in the ashes of our camp-fire. Our bacon was 
fried on a hot stone or roasted over the fire. 
The potatoes were baked in the ashes. We 
made our coffee in a birch bark pot, boiling it 
by dropping hot stones into the water. Rabbits, 
quail, squirrels and other small game were 
roasted over the fire. Five pheasants and one 
turkey were roasted in our “oven,” which was 
a hole in the ground with a hot stone in the 
bottom with ashes over it, then the bird, more 
ashes, on which hot coals were spread. 
Our game was first plucked, the intestines 
taken out, the cut pinned up, and the bird rolled 
in clay. After it was baked and the clay was 
broken, the skin came away with the clay, leav¬ 
ing the meat nice and clean. 
We spent a week in Bear Valley living in 
this way and having the time of our lives. We 
were sorry when the time came to start for home 
and business once more. 
Not only did we not starve, but both weighed 
more when we arrived home than when we 
went away. Happy Jack. 
All the game lazus of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and nozv in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
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