TALE OF TRAGEDY

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4833, 14 April 1936, Page 2

TALE OF TRAGEDY

HEROISM OP A NATIVE WOMAN | FAMILY ATTACKED BY LIONS The following tale of tragedy and the. heroism of a Native woman who lost her life in an attempt to save those of her children when attacked by lions, comes from the wild country between Feira and the Great East Road, not far from where the latter crosses the Luangwa River by the Beit Bridge, writes the Lusaka correspondent of the Bulawayo Chronicle. Night Under a Tree. It was told by a young Native girl of 12 years, named Nyeembu, who is the sole survivor of a family party consisting of her father, mother, a .younger sister and herself which met

with disaster while on a journey from their village to visit relations in the village of Tarabuku on the Great Bast Road. Wearied by their long walk it was decided to spend the night beneath a tree on the bank of a small stream some miles from the village which was their destination. During the night the woman was' awakened by the screams of her husband, and in the dim moonlight was able to see that he had been seized by a lion, which was accompanied by a lioness. Without hesitation the brave woman caught up her elder daughter and succeeded in getting her up the tree under which they had been sleeping. She then attempted to do the same with the younger child who, overcome by sleep or perhaps terrified, was slow to avail herself of her mother's help. Before she was able to effect her purpose the lioness sprang at her and , endeavoured to wrest the child from ! its mother arms. The latter struggled to save her and actually beat the lion off for a moment, but her efforts, however, were unavailing and no doubt cost her own life, for the lion, leaving her husband who

was probably already dead, sprang upon and quickly dispatched, her, and then with the lioness, settled down to devour their three victims. All this was seen by the terrified little girl from her place of safety in the tree, and her agony at- what she witnessed may well be left to the imagination. For two dreadful nights and a portion of the third day she remained in the tree while the lions name and went, renewing their gruesome feast at intervals. They apparently took no notice of the girl, and seemed to be unaware of her presence. On the third day, when the lions had departed, she summoned up courage to descend and make her way to the nearest village. Here she told her story and the villagers turned out and buried what remained of her parents and sister. The Lions Hunted. 4 The tragic happening was reported to the road superintendent, who in turn informed the authorities at Lusaka. Insp. Lancaster, of Northern Rhodesia Police, accompanied by Mr

Goddard, a well-known hunter, and another European, left immediately with the object of locating and, if possible, accounting for the lions. Upon their arrival at the village of Tarabuku they found the inhabitants in a state of panic, and were told that the lions had visited the village the previous night, evidently in search of further victims.

The fresh spoor was pointed out to them, and accompanied by dogs, iwo days were spent in fruitless tracking without so much as sight of the lions, who had eventually retired into a dense bamboo thicket from which it was a hopeless task to try to dislodge them, and the party had reluctantly to abandon the chase and return to Lusaka.