HUNTER HUNTED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16927, 16 April 1929, Page 7

HUNTER HUNTED

LIONS ARE TIMID 500 MILES TOR A RHINO SYDNEY, March 31. Has the King of the" Forest got his reputation under false_ pretences! .. - Judging by the experiences of Mr. P. W. Tewkesbury and his-niece, Missel. V. Tewkesbury*, who have just returned from a big game hunt in Tanganyika, the lion is inclined to-be timid, and easily sent scampering info the bush. The travellers upset the theory that immediately a lion sights.a.hunter it makes a wild spring in the direction of the man behind the gun. 'lnstead, the moving. pictures of. the hunt.sbow that the beast evinces only a mild and bored curiosity in mere man. The spectacle of a hunter taking a stealthy shot at a sinister eye glaring through, the rustling grasses is quite out-of-date; nearly a dozen lions on the open "plain took np more notice of the cameraman than if he didn't exist. • - •■ But there is one. way fo tempt a lion, and that is to offer him plenty of zebra steaks. On one occasion, Mr. Tewkesbury had. set off in' the lorry to bait lions, but didn't discover anyi On bis return to camp he- learried that hardly bad he set off. than a lioness dashed out of cover and chased the lorry for miles.; : ■•• .;';- ". . ,''.ty.^ .' "".. :'..•■ "We were keeping our" o eyes well ahead." said Mr. Tewkesßurjs with a» smile. c< ■ . ».: .'„'.. The hunter had a license to kill three lions, and while the first .two were bagu ged without much difficulty," the third—; "the old man"—was only numbed with) the first bullet, and, after that, pumping lead into him was just as effective as giving him plenty" of pills; But when the lion had dragged itself to covet, Mr. Tewkesbury followed to finish the job. The wounded beast .sprang—but, fortunately, to one side; for, as the hunter pulled the trigger, he realised that the magazine .was not loaded. That was the nearest thing on the whole hunting, trip, during which 51 lions were seen in: a ..fortnight. Miss Tewkesbury confined herself to shooting zebra for the lions'. breakfast, .and wild duck for the camp. "One night we heard lions prowling round the. camp, so we .went out to investigate," she said. ''We didn't locate the roaring, but got lost in the bamboo jungle, and had to spend the night in the car. On our return next morning we learned that'the lions had visited us y at the camp after the 'kill,' " ..... The cinematograph film of the trip is most interesting, and,-after seeing the herds of giraffe over-tooping the thorntrees, it is not so difficult to imagine the strange animals which roved tho i prehistoric world. The travellers drove 500 miles to get photographs of a jhinoceros";, and havef splendid close-ups of 'the heist-" The rhino, is fortunately very short-sighted, and as he didn't get the photographer's "wind" everything was all right. This is the second trip Mr. and Miss Tewkesbury hare made to East Africa. Will they go : again?. . ',' . ... "There are greater risks in the conntry "than' wild animals."- said Mr. Tewkesbury. "The' tse-tse' fly and l malaria are only two of them. The flv is deadly, and carries sleeping-sickness,"