LIONS!

Hokitika Guardian, 13 September 1921, Page 3

LIONS!

— * (i',x a l!ig-( tame 11 untcr.) Fit mi N.iiiohi. British Ft-l Africa, conn’s .i thrilling simv m th" math uf a ir. n-p.irt agent named e. loppe,'. wll I '. i i 11li■ e 1 down hy a holies- ; m l w.ami'll made a de-reratc hid for uetore Lv pulling bulb hands into liie animal's month ami gripping it longue. Africa i- .« paradise .'or the 'i n h titer. and the l:: •iat t i e el tie* ' •>* ' p. Net- rll lion huiitets are sti i•: t, t i n;Ii! "1. licwcv. r. For in-trinv. in a erne'.'' 1 frr village I. on-.-e e.'oie a. rcss -a. d- eply Mlined pve-i-eetor-li"nter who -More that his favoiiriie method of bunting lions was to got fin. n lineals • ' -we./- them selves to deal h. "It is .|siite -imply." he -aid. "Hi lion country you build a little fli'cli of -tone, just big enough to allow tho lion to enter with eomlort. But you must take (are to build it of jagged -tones and to see that the centre -tone of the arch is a particularly jagged one. ‘‘Then von go out and shoot a zehia nr some other toothsome creature from the lion’s point of view. lon drag Hie corpse under the arch pepper it heavily and then retire to your tent to sleep. ■‘ln the night the lion ((lines, creeps cider the arch to Ids feast, gets his nose filled with pepper, and lias an overpowering inclination to sneeze. He iicokok and in tlifmct throws up his hr'.id ami dashes lfis brain out on the centre jagged stum* of your arch! I do not couch for the truth of that storV. hut here is one for which 1 call.

A party nPmeii trekking in Rhodesia in an ox-wagon heard a commotion one night among their tethered oxen, and rushing towards the spot, pumped ahout a dozen slmls into the hearing mass from a distance of, say. 11l yards. The mass diminished and they advanced to find line of their nzen horribly mauled hv lions.

Tlmy "dosed'' the corpse with strychnine and retired to their ramp. They heard the lions busy at the carcase all night, and in the morning they found that the dead ox hail practically di-mppcarcl Imt lying near the spot were live fnll-";rown lions two males ; ,,n! throe females—all poisoned.

That was a veiy (.. -Merai.le bag got |. v illogitimalo means but here is tile true story ot a better bag got legitimately. Incidentally it. is a very interestin'' example of sportsmen’s luck When the late President Roosevelt and his son Kennit went, to British Past Africa, in 1909. they were accompanied on their hunting trip bv the late <\ Selous, one of the greatest hunters that ever lived. sioh.es was particularly anxious to secure a specimen of the East African hlack-n.aned lion, but on the "l"’h trip he never even got a shut at om But Theodore Roosevelt got three am IWrmit Roosevelt eight - and neOl.e. of thorn had ever been on on Afrie. oaine-hunting expedition tielore Some years ago a party ol f.n-ks trekking through Portuguese /ambesi. were followed for days by a gaunt ~ld lion, wlm took one ot their dmiU„vs each night until only oim ot the whole team was left This donkey tile terrified Creeks were determined to retain at all costs. When they made their camp Out J, i. rh l tlicv built around it o R' 1 ”’ 1, ' stockade of bushes and thorns and m th,. centre „f it they tethered the sole surviving donkey to Hu-ir tont-pole. |!„t notwithstanding these precautions that night the pertinacious old Imn got the lust donkey. <