From the Cape to Cairo: The First Traverse of Africa from South to NorthGrogan, Ewart Scott
History
From the Cape to Cairo: The First Traverse of Africa from South to North
Grogan, Ewart Scott
Africa -- Description and travel; Grogan, Ewart Scott, 1874-1967
waiting for some time and hearing no sound, I again advanced, this time
with the greatest caution. I could soon distinguish his shoulder at ten
yards between the grass. Not wishing to damage his skin unnecessarily,
I took my small rifle and fired at his shoulder. The shot had hardly
struck when he again rose and charged like lightning. Another lucky
shot from the second barrel, which entered the old wound, laid him out.
His head was within three yards of my feet. Even then he would not die,
although unable to rise, and it needed three more shots to finish him.
This was the first time I had been charged by a lion, and I was amazed
at the incredible rapidity of their movements. My respect for friend
lion increased a thousandfold.
The following day was evidently a lion’s holiday, for Mahony and I,
following the river to where I had dropped a zebra, put up two lionesses
out of some scrub. I hit them both with a right and left. Mahony also
hit one, which we secured. But the other one crossed the river, making
a clean jump of 34 ft., and reached a large patch of long grass where we
lost her. The wind dropped, and consequently the grass would not burn.
Nor could we follow her spoor. Sharp, crossing the plain to the
Umkulumadzi, met a lion and a lioness, and killed the lion with a shot
in the neck. On his way home he met another lion, and with a shot at
ten yards from the 10-bore removed a bunch of the mane. The lion jumped
into a small patch of impassable reed from which he could not be induced
to move, so was wisely allowed to stay, as handling a gun inside would
have been impossible. This was our grand finale at lion camp, and we
again moved to our old spot by the water-hole in the jungle, but without
success.
The variation in the Lichtenstein hartebeeste was very remarkable, the
type in this jungle being a heavy beast without face markings, the
frontal bone very prominent and the white rump indistinct, while near
Gorongoza’s hills they were smaller, had a white blaze on the forehead,
and were without the peculiar frontal prominence, the rump, too, being
very white. The nocturnal attentions of the hyænas were most annoying,
diabolical peals of laughter in rapid succession making sleep almost
impossible. Failing to find buffalo, we again marched up the Pungwe,
and to the lagoon where we had started proceedings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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