Wild Beasts and Their Ways, Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America — Volume 1Baker, Samuel White, Sir
History
Wild Beasts and Their Ways, Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America — Volume 1
Baker, Samuel White, Sir
Animal behavior; Hunting
We were within half a mile of the camp, and I was pushing my way through
some dwarf green nabbuk about 5 feet high, when, upon breaking into a
small open glade, a large lion with a dark shaggy mane started to its
feet from the spot where it had been lying, probably half asleep. I
instantly fired, before it had time to bound into the thick jungle, and
with tremendous roars it rolled over beneath the dense nabbuk bushes,
where at this late hour the shade was almost dark. As quick as possible
I fired a second shot, as it was rolling over and over, with
extraordinary struggles, and it disappeared in the almost impervious
bush, dragging its hind legs in such a manner that I felt sure the spine
was broken by the bullet. It was so dark that we could not discern the
figure of the animal beneath the thorns, although it was only a few feet
distant. Having reloaded, I hardly knew what course to pursue; we had no
means of driving the lion from the bush, I therefore examined the
ground, and we discovered that the nabbuk into which it had retreated
was simply an isolated clump, surrounded by narrow glades of sandy turf.
From this asylum I felt sure it could not move, and although it would
have been more heroic to have crept into the dark cover and have given
it a quietus, or more probably to have received it myself, we came to
the wise conclusion that if the lion could not move, it would be there
on the following morning, when we should have daylight in our favour.
We returned to camp, and the night passed without disturbance. Directly
after sunrise we returned to the spot, and we found the lion still
alive, although completely paralysed in the hinder portions. A shot in
the centre of the forehead terminated the affair, and the joint efforts
of ten men succeeded after great exertion in sliding the carcase upon
three inclined poles from the ground to the saddle, while the camel was
kneeling in a slight hollow, which the people had scraped away for the
purpose.
I had no means of weighing this animal, but it was immensely massive,
and would according to my estimation have exceeded 500 lbs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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