From Pole to Pole: A Book for Young People

by Sven Anders Hedin

Man-eating Lions

A terrible tale of man-eating lions is told by Colonel Patterson in his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo.

Colonel Patterson had been ordered for service on the Uganda Railway, which runs from Mombasa north-westwards through British East Africa to the great lake Victoria Nyanza, the largest source-lake of the Nile. But in 1898, when the Colonel arrived, the railway had not been carried farther than the Tsavo, a tributary of the Sabaki, which enters the sea north of Mombasa. Here at Tsavo (see map, p. 237) the Colonel had his headquarters, and in the neighbourhood were camped some thousands of railway coolies from India. A temporary wooden bridge crossed the Tsavo, and the Colonel was to build a permanent iron bridge over the river, and had besides the supervision of the railway works for thirty miles in each direction.

Some days after his arrival at Tsavo the Colonel heard of two lions which made the country unsafe. He paid little heed to these reports until a couple of weeks later, when one of his own servants was carried off by a lion. A comrade, who had a bed in the same tent, had seen the lion steal noiselessly into the camp in the middle of the night, go straight to the tent, and seize the man by the throat. The poor fellow cried out "Let go," and threw his arms round the beast's neck, and then the silence of night again fell over the surroundings. Next morning the Colonel was able to follow the lion's spoor easily, for the victim's heels had scraped along the sand all the way. At the place where the lion had stopped to make his meal, only the clothes and head of the unfortunate man were found, with the eyes fixed in a stare of terror.

Disturbed by this sight and the sorrowful occurrence, the Colonel made a solemn oath that he would give himself no rest until both the lions were dead. Gun in hand, he climbed up into a tree close by his servants' tent and waited. The night was quiet and dark. In the distance was heard a roar, which came nearer as the two man-eaters stole up in search of another victim. Then there was silence again, for lions always attack in silence, though when they start on their night prowl they utter their hoarse, awful cry, as though to give warning to the men and animals in the neighbourhood. The Colonel waited. Then he heard a cry of terror and despair from another camp a hundred yards away, and after that all was still again. A man had been seized and dragged away.

Now the Colonel chose a waiting-place where the last man had been carried off, but here, too, he was disappointed. A heart-rending shriek rang through the night at still another part of the camp, and another workman was missing.

The Indian workmen lay in several scattered camps, and evidently the lions chose a fresh camp every night to mislead the men. When they found that they could carry off a man with impunity every night or every other night, they grew bolder, and showed not the least fear of the camp fires, which were always kept alight. They paid no heed to the noise and tumult they caused, or even to gunshots fired at them in the darkness. A tall, thick fence of tough, thorny bushes was erected round each camp as a protection, but the lions always jumped over or broke through it when they wanted a man. In the daytime the Colonel followed their tracks, which were plainly visible through the thickets, but of course could not be perceived on stony ground.

Things became still worse when the rails were laid farther up the country, and only a few hundred workmen remained with Colonel Patterson at the Tsavo bridge. He had unusually high and strong fences built up round his camp, and the fires were enlarged to blazing pyres, watchmen kept guard, guns were always ready, and within the enclosure empty oil tins were banged together to scare the beasts if possible. But it was all no use. Still more victims disappeared. The Indian workmen became so panic-stricken that they could not shoot, though the lion was often just in front of them. A patient was taken from the hospital tent, and the next victim was a water-carrier from another part of the camp. He had been lying with his head towards the middle of the tent and his legs outwards. The lion had sprung over the fence, seized the man by the foot, and dragged him out. In his despair he had grabbed at a box standing by the tent canvas, and instead had caught hold of a tent rope, which gave way. Then the lion, with his prey in his mouth, had run along the fence looking for a weak spot, and when he had found one, he dashed right through the fence. Next morning fragments of clothing and flesh were found on the paths. The other lion had waited outside, and they had consumed their prey together.

Then followed an interval of quiet, during which the lions were engaged elsewhere. It was hoped that the tranquillity would continue, and the workmen began to sleep outside because of the heat. One night they were sitting round a fire, when a lion suddenly jumped noiselessly over the fence and stood gazing at them. They started up and threw stones, pieces of wood, and firebrands at the beast, but the lion sprang forward, seized his man, and dashed through the fence. His companion was waiting outside, and they were so impudent that they ate their victim only thirty yards off.

The Colonel sat up at night for a whole week at the camp where a visit was expected. He says that nothing can be more trying to the nerves than such a watch, time after time in vain. He always heard the warning roar in the distance, and knew that it meant, "Look out; we are coming." The hungry cry sounded hoarser and stronger, and the Colonel knew that one of his men, or perhaps he himself, would never again see the sun rise over the jungle in the east, and there was always silence when the brutes were near. Then the watchmen in the various camps would call out, "Look out, brothers, the devil is coming." And shortly afterwards a wild scream of distress and the groans of a victim would proclaim that the lion's stratagem had been successful again. At last the lions became so daring that both cleared the fence at once, to seize a man apiece. Once one lion did not succeed in dragging his man through the fence, and had to leave him and content himself with a share of his comrade's booty. The man left behind was so badly mauled that he died before he could be carried to the hospital tent.