ROPING A LIONESS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10504, 12 July 1910, Page 6

ROPING A LIONESS.

The expedition to Kast Africa, ot Buffalo Jones, the famous lion-roper, with whose exploits every schoolboy in the United States is familiar, has met witli many adventures and much success. Qui' of its members, Mr Uuv Scull, himself a man of maiiy adventures in manv lands, sent recently to the Dailv Mail from Soda Swamp Camp, British East Africa, a note describing how by the united efforts of the pai'ty a rhinocerous was roped. 1 1U , . bolow another letter from Mr Scull, 111 which he describes, trom Black Hoot Camp, the .chief exploit of the expedition, the roping of a lioness. Black Reef Camp (B.I 1 /.A.). It was a new trick to play 011 a hones:-, that caught'her in the end—caught her fast, and held her, so that the colonel and the cowboys tied her feet togctnci and muzzled her, and brought her 111. i She is with us in Buffalo Jones camp in the Kedong Valley, chained securely to the bole of a thorn tree. It was a long chase for everyone concerned, and the events of the limit s, ' c ~ ceeded bach fither so' rfvpidly that the dawn of to-day seems weeks ago. Ihe lirrht had scarcely conic to the hedong Valley when the dogs found the trail o! rt libneSs at her kill in the open plain::. The evening shadows trom the black Lteef were lengthening fast when we returned with tier to the camp. The Black lleef is a belt. ot lava rock rising almost perpendicularly from the .plain to a height of some two hundred fret.' The rocks ol the reels are jagged, and the sides are honeycombed with cayes and crevasses, and the thick scvith grows in'between. ■ This was the scene ol the early part of the light. On top of the reel the dogs first bayed the lioness. Sue took np" her position on a rocky eminence readv to charge. The colonel was the first "to get to her. Then IJlyate, the white, hunter, arrived with his rille, and ' lie fired two shots into the air, which is the signal to ••gather"; and Cherry Real-toil" came with his moving-pieture machine, and the two cowboys came from the donga below, where they had been stationed to cut off her retreat. But here the ground was too badly broken to manoeuvre the. horses. So the. lioness had to he shilted, and for two hours then wo drove her Irom one stronghold to another, from crevasse to crevasse, forcing her always toward Lho edge of the reef until finally she dropped down to the level plain and ran straight for the distant donga. It was at the edge of the donga thai, 'she stopped to light the ropers. She i 1 had run far chough and meant business now: She crouched by the side of a thorn bush and opened her jaws and snarled and growled at the horsemen tcircling near. Closer aiid closer Means approached her for a. chance to throw his rope. Then suddenly she charged. Means wheeled and' spurred his liorso to , escape. For the fh-st thirty - yards of ; tiie race ■ the ! lioness gained rapidly. ,Tlien Means' biiy begaii to gather speed 3 arid slowly forged ahead. Means having run beyond licr reach, • she turned and charged the colonel, who was sitting 011 his horse lioar by. Again the lioness' gained sit first, and again the horse drew away from her, and she went back to another thorn bush and snarled and growled as before. . And. all the while Kearton, 011 : foot by his tripod, was busy taking pictures of the race.

This other position of hers made it less difficult for the horsemen to work, because now they had 'more room in which to dash past lier. Means made "the first attempt. He started his t horse oil the run', swinging, his rope above his head, and at the first throw .caught her round tho neck. But a flioness' ricck is short and thick, and ' with a quick, catlike twist she slipped the noose over lier ears. Then Loveless. tried with the same result.

Apparently she had no liking for this new kind of game, for no sooner had. she freed herself from Loveless' rope than she dived into the bottom of the donga and hid herself in' a thicket of , scrub and grass. ' For a time, then, it seemed that nothing would move her from out this 'scrub. Fire crackers and burning grass were used to no avail. Eventually tho i colonel tied a forked; stick to his rope and dragged it across lier hiding place to uncover lier. This manoeuvre partly succeeded —succeeded enough, at least, J for Loveless to throw liis rope at her. Aiid at the. sight of the rope coming towards her through the air she charged 'like a flash, so that Loveless hit rely escaped her, and she turned and broke away yet cince more along the donga. . So the hunt was on all over again. 'This time, however, she did not run far. .Her next and last position was in the bed of a dry gully-about three feet deep, and thickly grown with grasses. Here the last and triumphant trick was played. „ ' Loveless threw again, and the noose of tlie rope landed fairly above her ;bead, but tile thick grasses held it up. 'When 'Loveless had passed the end oi his rope over the limb of al'neighboring tree and down again to the horn of big saddle,' and Keartoii' had taken up his position with his camera, with Ulyate standing by, everything was iready for the big event. ; Tho colonel had procured a long pole, and carrying this in his' hand, lie rode quietly along the edge of the gully .and stopped directly above the beast. ;With the long pole he carefully shoved the noose downward through the grasses till it lay beneath her chin.

Instantly the lioness sprang at him — sprang through the noose—and "Loveless pulled quick and caught her by the last hind leg going through. Putting spurs to liis horse Loveless galloped away, hauling tlie lioness back across the gully , and uji into the tree, where ;She swung dangling by the one hind foot, snapping upward at tho rope she could not reach. 11l less than live minutes she was safely bound and lowered down to rest in the shade of approaching twilight.