Show tt miswsaom u Lion Shooting in Somaliland By Lord Delamere Foremost t among the grid hunting hunt-ing authorities of the Hnglhh sneaking sneak-ing world is i Lord JJelamere Iff is credited with being lite heaviest killer kill-er in the party which bagged the record number of African lions some few years ago In East Central Africa Af-rica his prowess is familiar lo every native Not < long ago a locality beset l with lions sent a delegation four hundred miles to call on Lord Dela mcrc to ask him to come and wipe out the destroyers of their cattle In this article he vividly contrasts the theory and practice of lion hunting l in the region which Lx resident fiooscvclt will invade HE best tote ofT lion tracking I ever saw lasted live full T hours and is so memorable In sow oral respects that I purpose to use it as an Introduction to that general method T of lion hunting Two of my men got badly mauled by n lion so our camp had to stop where It was till they could bo moved After a time one of thorn was able to walkabout walk-about with his arm in a sling and tho other watt getting on well so ono night 1 decided to leavo tho big camp next day and go with two or three camels to Bonio villages only a days march away Early tho next morning Ma homed Noor tho headman started with tho camels I stopped behind to get some breakfast Just as we wore going to follow a camclman who had gbno up tho riverbod closo by to get some water same running back to sap that a lion hud been down to drink at one of tho shallow sand wells In the night I started at once with Abdul lah and two othor trackers telling my P9nyboy to follow on as soon us ho could got tho pony saddled When tracking I havo always found It the best plan to have tho pony led somo distance behind Tho boy ought to have no difficulty in following the tracks of two or three men nail a lion and if tho pony Is kent closo up p it Is sure nto stamp or blow Its nose at tho critical moment When we got to tho well there was the spoor plain enough in tho sand but rather blurred by some rain which had fallen at daybreak This made tho tracking a little dlfllcult after we left tho rlvorbod but when we hail followed It slowly for some distance we came to a place where the lion hall lain down under a thick bush evidently evi-dently to shelter from the rain as tio spoor after this was quiet distinct on the Mop of tho damp Ground This made us think wo woro In for a short track for it must have been light I when tho lion went on again from here and lions generally lie up shortly short-ly after the sun rites but this day proved an exception be nuse It was cloudy and cool through the foronoon Trailing the King of Beasts The spoor now led us along a sandy path whero wo could follow It as fast ISO could walk When it turned off into the bush wo quite expected to seethe see-the lion at any moment but not a bit of Itho wandered about through endless clumps of mimosa n d Irgin bushes us if ho did not mean to Ho up at all The track at last ed us down a little sandy watercourse which it followed fol-lowed for some distance Up to this tlmo wo had had no real difficulty in making It out but new came our first serious check The nullah turned off along tho sldo of n stony ridge and instead of going along It the lion had turned up tho hill We had got tho general direction th ° tho lion had been going in but this was no good to us as ou casting lorwurd in tho same line to the bottom of the other side of tho rldgo whore traro was somo sandy ground wo could find no sign of his having passed in that direction We spent some tlmo huntIng hunt-Ing about growing less hopeful as tlmo went on A man following a trail by sight certainly has an enormous enor-mous advantage over a hound hunting It by nose because tlmo Is of no particular object to him and every direction can be tried in turn After making out cast forward wo went back to the little watercourse and followed tout down for some distance hoping that the lion had turned down hill again but here jo wo wero disappointed dis-appointed and gravitated back to where wo had 1 first lost the spoor Wo knew that tho lion had not gone straight on nor had ho turned back ho must have gone along the tap of tho rldgo and then crossed into othor stony hills where Is was hopeless to try to truck him Abdullah who is never defeated said there was a big riverbed further 011I on In the direction In which tho lion was going It Boomed n very slender chance as ho might havo turned off anywhere In between but It was tho only one so off we went Wo were evidently In luck that day for wo hall only gono about a quarter of a mile ktthe when wo struck the spoor Tho lion seemed now to havo made up his mind ns to his direction for he kept on straight down tho middle of the riverbed Thq sun had como out from behind the clouds and In places tho sand was very deep so that wo wore not sorry when at last tho track led Into a Jlttlo Island of bush In the great flat sand There was no doubt tho lion was at home for on casting round no sign was perceptible of n track coming out Tho Island raised a little above tho riverbed was formed of u mass of thicktangled hush and creepers clustered round a few big trees rite water coming down tho river after heavy rain had washol it roughly Into tho form of a triangle the apex of which pointed up the river From this point tho sides widened net to tho othor end whIch was about hlrty yards broad tho whole length IcIng somewhat under a hundred yaru Driving the Lion to Bay The shape made It n easy place to I drive for a little way out from too point ono could easily command tho whole of it The lion was almost certain cer-tain to break out of ono of the sides towards the bush on tho banks of tho riverbed In which case I should get an easy broadside shot If wo followed fol-lowed the track into tho place the noIse we wero sure to make would be very likely to get the beast on his legs and ho would sneal out at ono side as we went In at tho othor especially es-pecially as the water had loft a lot of dead sticks along tb < > edges over which It would ba Impossible to walk quietly Abdullah also said that from tho way he had wandered about this lion must bo I very hungry and would sleep lightly These considerations decided us to drive I posted myself I with Abdullah a few yards out from till point and the other two men having hav-ing collected some stones began throwIng throw-Ing them In ui the far end Abdullah was right about this lion sleeping lightly for at the first stone there was a growl and a crash In tho bushes and then for a minute or two not u sound Tho men started to walk down OliO on each side shooting and throw lug In stones I was watching them and wondering what had happened to tho lion when there was a faint crackling Just in front of us and ho appeared at the point of the island Although wo were standing within a few yards of him and absolutely In the open ho did not see us Ho was facing straight towards us and was so close that I did not like to fire at him as on receiving tho bullet bul-let he would be very llkrly to plunge In the direction he was going nnd bo Into us nor did I want him to como any closer so as he stepped down onto on-to tho sand I moved 1 my rlflf up towards my shoulder to attract his attention at-tention He saw tho movement at once stopped dead and turned his head sharply towards us For tho fraction of a second I thought he was going to be startled Into charging but ho plunged off to the left with an angry snarl at us over his shoulder As ho passed I pulled and ho skated along on his stomach and fell down a little ledge in the sand This slowed him round and he lay facing us spread eaglod oc the sand evidently quite unable to move All tho life In him scented concentrated In his eyes which glared at us furiously Another shot put him out of his misery The first shot a very bad one had grazed the Hplne Just In front of tho withers another quarter of an Inch higher and it would have hissed altc r < or This lion was quite mnnelesH except ex-cept for u few long hairs on each side of the neck and his teeth wore worn down quite short BO ho was evidently very old He watt In very good condition condi-tion notwithstanding but hs stomach was quite empty which recounted for his going so far before lying up Wo hail to stop at the main camp for the ssotgotutl4erecsnd night when wo got there and did not follow up our camels till the next day I have described this track rather at length because It Is a good example many similar days Perils of the Man Eater My first experience In tracking lions was early In 1892 and tho night before be-fore was rather an exciting one After hunting elephants unsuccessfully for about a month we were on our say south when wo arrived ono day at some villages whero tho natives had been very much bothered by five lions which wore said to be still In tho neighborhood A girl had been killed two days before and an enormous amount of damage had been done among the sheep and cattle The first day wo camped there two of our party had shooting zercbas made at the vII vase to which the lions generally came and Just before sunset they went off there I tied up our two donkeys Just outside out-side the camp on the chance that tho lions might come and look us up Just after dark we were having dinner In the tent when there vas n scuffle out side end it was evident that something some-thing was attacking our donkeys It was pitch dark and wo fir i several shots In tho direction of the sound before wo discovered that tho attackIng attack-Ing beasts were hyenas We did not mind having a donkey killed Instantaneously Instan-taneously bya lion but we had not bargained for tho poor beasts getting mauled by hyenas so taking a lamp we went out to see what had Happened Hap-pened My donkey had got of with a nasty bite in the hollow of the hind leg above tho hock and wo had him taken Into too camp at once The other was completely disembowelled and must have been killed instantly Wo could not find any dead hyenas but wo were pretty sure that on or i two must have been hit Seeing that If tho lions did como to the dead donkey don-key there would not JB much chance of hitting them on so dark a night we pulled tho carcass right under tho tikerni or fence round the camp nail to prevent hyenas dragging It away tied a rope to ono of Its legs and passing it over the fence fastened It to a heavy water barrel Inside the camp Wo sat up for a bit aid got a few shots at hyenas and then wo went to bed telling the sentry to keep a sharp lookout and to let us know If lions camo to the carcass Somo time after I awoke to tad Abdullah bending over me with my title in his hand Ho was frightfully excited and nil I could get out of him was Llbah sahib llbah Lion sir lion Jumping up I rushed out Just as my companion fired two shots Into tho darkness The first thing I saw when I got to where ho stood was that a I great piece of the skorm round tho camp had disappeared leaving abroad a-broad gap I could not for a moment think what had happened and then It struck mo that when tho carcase had been dragged away tho water barrel must have got hitched against the Inside of the Interlaced mimosa boughs and tho whole lot had gone together to-gether It was frightfully dark outside out-side and we stood peering out for somo time without being able to distinguish dis-tinguish anything but after a few minutes we could hear something I tearing at the flesh quite close by Wo hnd a shot or two at tho sound and tho boasts whatever they were went away As at that time we knew nothing about lions wo wero not quite sure that they were net hyenas after all but Abdullah stuck to It they were lions so we got out beds and lay down ono on each side of the opening Just behind the fence to i watch hoping that the brutes would como back Nothing furtlr happened however At daybreak wo sallied out to see if by any chance wo had managed man-aged to hit a lion but wo only found two or three dead hyenas One of theso brutes had been partly eaten we thought at tho time by other hyenas hy-enas as It was stlli tab dark o make tenm2otIntl oc out tracks Wo cnnu to the conclusion conclu-sion wo had made Idlts ct ourselves and had been shooting all night at hyenas and we did not feel any the better wilt ii our friends came back from their nght at the village and told us wo had probably frightened I every lion out of the country by our bombardment Reading the Lion Tracks Abdullah rtlll Insisted that thero had been Hans round tho camp and a little later we found the spoor of one big lion by the body of the half eaten hyena The ground was very stony nnd there were no other tracks to bo Been but ono lion could hardly have dragged the donkey and heavy barrel away so quickly so there were probably more The other hunters had got hold of a man at the village who said he knew where the lions always lay so they went with aim Soon after they left Abdullah who had been hunting about came and told mo that he had picked p the track of ono lion on soft ground a little lit-tle way from camp and that we ought to follow It At that time none of us knew much about tracking and wo had had such bad luck after the elephants ele-phants that we did not think much of our shlkarlcs and I did not think It was much good Abdullah persuaded me and I went After we iiuj followed the track for some distance I quite caught his enthusiasm and when the single track was Joined by three others oth-ers I was divided between dellgnt at the prospect of having four lions all to myself and the thought that perhaps per-haps I had more on my hands than I could manage alone After a track of about an hour we came In sight of two or three big thickets of irgln bushes surrounded by open mimosa scrub aim Intersected by narrow paths My second shikar ut that time was a vory tall fellow called Jama with enormous feet Several Sev-eral times during tho track Abdullah had turned round to pitch Into him for making such a noise and now ho confided I con-fided to mo that Jama walk all same cow and that wo had better leave him behind hero with the pony and boy ns the lions were sure to be in the place in front of us Knowing nothing about It I agreed and went on with Abdullah Wo wero walking quietly along the outside of ono of tho thickets when Abdullah suddenly clutched mo by tho nrm and pointed towards a tree standing on tho edge of tho bush yards off Tho tree was divided into two towards tho bottom and tho sun was throwing tho shadow of a bush on tho ground Inside the hollow This was where Abdullah was pointIng point-Ing getting more excited but I could make out nothing at all until a great yellow beast moved suddenly out of the shadow and slipped away on tho far side I fired from the hip lotting oft both barrels into the tree We rushed round to the other side of the thicket Just In time to seo a fine lioness come out I could not get a clear shot at onco and when I did after running some distance I was shaking so that I could not get on herat her-at all and missed She kept lobbing long Just ahead every now mid then stopping to look around and show her teeth at us Each time she stopped I shot hut so badly that 1 i wasted seven bullets at different ranges without touching her The first six did not seem to annoy her at all but tho last hit the ground Just undor her teeth and either the bullet so close frightened her or a stony hit her for she sprung off with a snarl and a flourish of her tall and putting on the pace In a minute or two ran clean away from us I was terribly disappointed disap-pointed and annoyed with myself and I thought of course that everything was over for the day after all this shooting but Abdullah who was almost al-most weeping hardly gave mo tlmo to get my wind a little before ho rushed me back again As we ran round the place where wo had first seen tho lioness a flue lion appeared walking slowly out of another thicket towards us As I shot ho turned and plunged thorugh nn opening In tho bushes to our right Wo ran round an outstanding bush to head him If he broke out and met a lion facing us Just ns I fired I heard a moan to the right so I was sure It was not tho same lion This one staggered away at tho shot and ell stone dead close by Death of the Jungle Lord Abdullah called up Jama and tho pony boy und they soon had the hide off and tied on the pony I thought all tho time that Abdullnh know all about tho other one but is ho seemed hotnetlteked to bo going right home I asked him If wo had not better go and look for It and ho replied that It was tho same lion all tho time nail that I had missed It the first shot I did not feel quite sure about It myself but the 1 moan In the bushes could only have como from a wounded beast so I told him wo had better go and f look anyway any-way He evidently thought It was waste of time but when we got back to whero the lion had been hit wo soon found some blood and going quietly down a little path between tho Irgln bushes we came round n corner cor-ner almost on top of the lion Ho was stone dead I was very pleased at scoring off Abdullah as ho had shown such evident disgust at my shooting We met one of our party on pur way back to camp and told him ho might run across the lioness If ho followed our track back to tho place wo had come from An hour after wo got back to camp he camo galloping up having seen two Ions curiously enough both males amid hadshot ono with a better mane than either of mine I have at another tlmo described two different methods of hunting lions One of them could hardly be called u method ut nil as It depended on news brought in by natives ns to here a lion had actually been seen The second plan consisted of tying np a donkey for a bait and sitting up to watch lit night A much more interesting In-teresting way of hunting lions than either of these and a very successful success-ful ono It the native shlkarles employed em-ployed are any good Is this process of tracking them A Ilon lies up In somo cool shady place for tho day unless the sky Is overcast and tho sun cannot get out when ho will occasionally oc-casionally be found hunting at any hour If you can strike his spoor of the night before thero Is a very good chanco of following It up to whero tho lion lies should tho ground bo suitable There Is no form of hunting hunt-ing so exciting ns this When tho spoor Is found there is generally nothing to show If you have struck it early or lato In tho lions wanderIngs wander-Ings so that it is quite a chance Tvhother it leads you for hours over all sorts of country or whether after half a mile down on a sandy river bed or path It turns oft Into a thick patch of reeds or bush closo by whero tho lion is lying It Is extraordinary how tho excitement grows as tlmo goes on and still you keep the track sometimes some-times very slowly whoro only now and then part of a footprint can beseem be-seem on a soft place between tho stones at other times as fast as you can walk over soil whero the track Is visible many yards ahead And when tho spoor Is lost mad mlnuto after chute goes by whllo you cast about vainly in every direction how wretched you are and how quickly your spirits rise again when a low whistle or snapping of tho fingers announces an-nounces that ono of tho trackers has hit it off further on At last certain signs show that you are getting near the end tho trackers take off their sandals and tuck up their loincloths under their belts lest a corner flapping III the wind should scare tho lion For tho first tlrao you take your rlflo from the native who has had charge of it and with your head shikari carrying a second rifle steal forward until the lion is sighted or ringed in a small clump 01 bush Then when all Is over and the Vln Is being taken off hov l pleasant it is to sit In the shade listening to the t excited talk of the nativas and letting let-ting your nerves quiet down agala after the hopes and fears of tho mornIng morn-Ing You ride homo to camp with tho lion skin behind your saddle while ono of your men after another gives his version of the mornings proceedings proceed-ings In a hunting song On tho other hand when you get a shot and miss after a long and difficult track it seems as if any number of lions killed In the future will never make up for tho loss of this one whch Is always the biggest lion carrying tho finest lump you havo ever seen Tho ride homo to camp is then a silent one as + no lion means no sheep for tho men and they are correspondingly downhearted down-hearted The first thing to bo done In truckIng truck-Ing Is to find fresh spoor Natives will often bring news of spoor but unluckily the average villagers Idea of a fresh track is rather hazy I have the times gono a long way and emu a several days to find nt tho end a track several days old On ono occasion two natives arrived saying there were fresh lion tracks In a riverbed luckily not moro that half a pillo from camp but when wo got there tho fresh lion tracks turned out to bo the spoo1 of two hyenas t ase tol east enas ut least a week old The spoor of the large spotted hyena Is not unlike that of a lioness on certain ground but the difference t can easily bo told because a hyena has claws like a dog whereas tho re tractive claws of n lion ore olvays sheathed and leave no nrk Tho bust way to find spoor is to look for it yourself with good trackers Should there be any villages near camp which lions havo been In the nab It of raiding it is very necessary to got there as early as possible In tho morning If onco tho largo flocks of sheep and goats and herds of camels which havo been shut UI In the villages vil-lages all night are let out the ground all about is a mass of Indstlngulsh able footprints and ever rath from tho village Is choked with long strings of beasts going off to their feeding grounds Hitting off ji lions spoor under these circumstances Is almost Impossible and tho dust raised by tho f herds Is very disagreeable Besides villages any well In the neighborhood Is a good place to look for spoor If a lion Is about there ought to be no difficulty In picking up his spoor within a day or two Baffling Ways of the Jungle Folk Rather curious coincidences aro sometimes brought to light by spoor Not very long after tho date of the story Just related one of our party went to a place whore two lions had been killing regularly and sat up two nights for them with a donkey as bait The lions must have left the district for a day or two while ho was there as there wero no fresh tracks to bo found anywhere about The day after he canto back to camp I happened to ride out in that direction Soon after we started wo camo on the spoor of two lions which led us along a path 4 till wo camo to tao shooting zereba Tho night after ho hud left the lions had walked over tho very spot where + his donkey had been tied up In the middle of tho path A little later again I happened to bo at a place where ho had camped a few days before A lion roared near my camp several times In the night and next morning I heard he had taken n sheep from a village closo by We picked up his spoor In a riverbed river-bed near the camp and after following follow-ing it for some distance camo to somo wells The lion had drunk twice and between the drinks had laid down under the fence of a shooting zereba which had been made to watch tho water After drlnkng the second time he had gone away Now and then when tracking you come across places where lions have killed and if It Is on sand or bare soil you can toll everything that has happened almost as well as if you y had seen It Wo woro camped onco on the edge of a riverbed and thick covert ran right down to the back of the camp One night there was a tremendous scuffling In these bushes so In tho morning I went out to seo Y what had been going on and found that two lions had been chasing a warthog which had Just saved its bacon by getting underground It must havo been a very near thing as the lions had ploughed great furrows fur-rows In tho sand at the mouth of tho hole showing they had pulled up pretty pret-ty sharp Warthogs generally go to ground when pursued and ns there Is no second opening to tho burrows and presumably no chamber at the end whero they can turn they always go In backwards This has actually been seen by sportsmen who havo boon riding after them with a spear I should think this pig can hardly have had the tlmo to do this Perhaps he got Jammed in head first as ho refused re-fused to bo smoked out when wo tried itBy By permission of Longmans Green Co New York Copyright 1900 by DonJ D Hampton |