LIONS IN AFRICA.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXII, Issue 14, 18 January 1910, Page 5

LIONS IN AFRICA.

Somebody said the other day, after reading of the slaughter of wild beasts by Mr Roosevelt on his present expedition, that soon there would be no lions left in Africa. Mr H. A. Bryden, an authority on, the subject, holds no such opinion. Notwithstanding the odds against him, he writes in Chambers' Journal, the lion in Africa still roams over an immense extent of country. He yields slowly to civilisation, it is true; but in the wilder and more remote parts of the Continent his reign is .still practically unchallenged . It took 200 years to drive the animal north of the Orange River. South of the Zambezi the last lion may perchance have disappeared within the next 30 or 40 years. In many parts of Africa, Mr Bryden thinks, it may be safely anticipated that the roar of the lion will be heard for at least another 100 years ; in some places possibly 200 years may be nearer the mark. The lion, in truth, dies hard. His destruction is only accomplished by sportsmen of great courage and determination, men who are experts in the use of the rifle, and whose eyes and nerves may be depended upon in the last extremity of danger. Even with such as these, the lion is not always the loser.