LION A MILD FELLOW

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 7 April 1926, Page 5

LION A MILD FELLOW

Mr Stillman \\. he!ls. Hnited Slates Consul in Leeds, entertained members of the Leeds (Municipal Officers’ Luncheon Club recently with stories of h\s big game hunting experiences in East Africa. It was absind. he said, to> regard the lion as the "terror of the wild." The iii::i. unless lie had lasted human blood or was very hungry, would not attack. His bite was not the worst pari of him : I>L a 1 l-poisoning In mi the claw of the animal was the chiel danger to a .innli wounded in an encounter with the "king ol the forest." The real

■■.-. tar tiii'ii." so far as danger was concerned. was the buffalo. and a scrap with him had inevitably only one end-ing—-death. A man had nm chance against the bidfafi. if the animal reached him. One evening when going home with Ids wife in a rickshaw a Per dinner. Mr Eel Is said, they encountered a lioness in the pathway. They thought it was the postmaster's mastili. and did not learn their mistake until the following dav. On another occasion they escaped" the charge ol a herd ol 80 Imii'ulo by 20 yards. Another curious !ait nienle-iud by the speaker was the nervousness of the zebra. This animal, lie said, was field to have the smallest ,icart il" any ouadruped of its size, which accounted tor its never having been utilised to any extent for draught or similar purposes. Due, day. while i- 1 11 , ug on the \vrandah ot an hotel near Nairobi, lie saw a herd ol eight zebras stampeding directly towards him. They turned nil Inwards the town, and two t i ; hem collided vvilii a lie.lot -ear and were hilled. All the remaining s : \ fell dead in ill If ert til |‘.a rt s ot the i■. wu I rum shi it frigid . Tiie hyena, vvhi! ■au it 1.ed eiislo.un-r. was mostly a -- a* rimer.