Wild Beasts and Their Ways, Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America — Volume 1

by Sir Samuel White Baker

Blood trickled from the carcase, and dropped upon the ground, thus forming a trace throughout the route until we reached the camp. The lioness was 9 feet 1 inch in length, and, when skinned, the body was dragged to a considerable distance and left for the hyenas.

The fires were blazing after sunset; the horses of my Hamran hunters, and my own, were picqueted within the centre of our enclosure, near the tent, and we were about to retire for the night, when a deep guttural sigh was heard close to the high and impervious fence of kittur thorns. This had been carefully constructed, as life was most uncertain within that questionable district, where the Arab hunting parties invariably killed all natives of the crafty Base tribe whenever met, and they incurred a similar retaliation. The fence was made of entire trees cut off near the roots, and then dragged by the stems into line, with their wide-spreading heads of sharp hooked thorns forming the outside surface; these were locked together by their hooks, entangled, and nothing could possibly have broken through, except an elephant or rhinoceros.

Prowling around this excellent protection was a lion, who was pronounced by my hunters to be the mate of the lioness which I had killed; it was declared that the disconsolate husband had followed the course of his wife's body, denoted by the drops of blood that had dripped upon the ground when carried by the camel towards the camp. My people were of opinion that the lion was determined upon vengeance, and that he would assuredly bound over our fence, although he could not absolutely break through it.

The night was always interesting upon the banks of the Settite river, as vast numbers of wild animals were astir half an hour after sunset, which either came down to drink, or to wander in search of green pasturage, that was only to be found in places from which the water had retreated. The lions were accordingly on the alert, and the threatening sound of their deep voices was to be heard in every direction, until approaching daylight drove them to their thickets.

There is nothing so beautiful, or enjoyable to my ears, as the roar of a lion upon a still night, when everything is calm, and no sound disturbs the solitude except the awe-inspiring notes, like the rumble of distant thunder, as they die away into the deepest bass. The first few notes somewhat resemble the bellow of a bull; these are repeated in slow succession four or five times, after which the voice is sunk into a lower key, and a number of quick short roars are at length followed by rapid coughing notes, so deep and powerful that they seem to vibrate through the earth.

Our nocturnal visitor did not indulge in the usual solo, but he continued throughout the night to patrol the circuit of the camp, occasionally betraying his presence by a guttural roar, or by the well- known deep sigh which exhibited the capacity of his lungs. We could not see to shoot, owing to the darkness outside the fence, and the brightness of our fire within the camp; this my men industriously replenished with wood, and occasionally hurled fire-brands in the direction of the intruder.

At length we went to sleep, leaving the natives to keep watch; they declared that nothing would induce them to close their eyes, as the lion would assuredly carry off one of the party before the morning. To their great discontent, I refused to disturb the night by firing a gun, as I had determined to hunt up the lion on the following day at sunrise.

Upon waking early, we discovered the deep footprints upon the sandy soil, which had marked a well-beaten path around our impenetrable fence, showing that the lion had been patrolling steadily throughout the night. This fact led me to suppose that I should most probably find him somewhere within a very short distance of the camp. I started with some of my best men, and instead of a light single-barrel I carried my '577 rifle.

The position of our camp was exceedingly favourable for game, as the river made a circuitous bend, which had in ages past thrown up a mass of alluvial soil of several hundred acres, all of which was now covered with a succession of dense patches of nabbuk jungle, interspersed with forest trees and numerous small glades of fine dwarf grass, which formed a sward. I felt certain that our visitor of the last night must be somewhere in this neighbourhood, and I determined to devote the entire day to a rigorous search; in this my men were unanimous, as they objected to passing another night in sleepless excitement and anxiety.

Luck was against us. I had numerous opportunities during the day of shooting other animals, but I was devoted entirely to the lion, which we could not find.