e sat down and watched us as we made our way cautiously in
the grass to where her mate lay as he fell, stone dead. We afterward
followed her, but she escaped from view and could not be located. This
lion was the largest we had seen and measured nine feet from tip to tip.

This was our last experience with lions in the Trans-Tana country. After
that we went up in the elephant country on Mount Kenia, but that is a
story all in itself.

Lion hunting is the best kind of African hunting in one respect. One
feels no self-reproach in having killed a lion, for there is always the
comforting thought that by killing one lion you have saved the lives of
three hundred other animals. Every lion exacts an annual toll of at
least that number of zebras, hartebeests, or other forms of antelopes,
all of which are powerless to defend themselves against the great
creature that creeps upon them in cover of darkness. So a lion hunter
may consider himself something of a benefactor.

CHAPTER VII

ON THE TANA RIVER, THE HOME OF THE RHINO. THE TIMID ARE FRIGHTENED, THE
DANGEROUS KILLED, AND OTHERS PHOTOGRAPHED. MOVING PICTURES OF A RHINO
CHARGE

Down on the Tana River the rhinos are more common than in any
other known section of Africa. In two weeks we saw over one
hundred--perhaps two hundred--of them--so many, in fact, that one of the
chief diversions of the day was to count rhinos. One day we counted
twenty-six, another day nineteen, and by the time we left the district
rhinos had become such fixtures in the landscape as to cause only casual
comment. Perhaps there were some repeaters, ones that were counted
twice, but even allowing for that there were still some left. We saw big
ones and little ones, old ones and young ones, and middle-aged ones;
ones with long ears, short horns, double horns, and single horns; black
ones and red ones--in fact, all the kinds of rhinos that are resident in
British East Africa. One had an ear gone and another had a crook in his
tail. If we had stayed another week we might have got out a Tana River
Rhino Directory, with addresses and tree numbers. We studied them fore
and aft, from in front of trees and from behind them, from close range
and long range, over our shoulders, and through our cameras, every way
whereby a conscientious lover of life and nature can study a prominent
member of the Mammalia. We called the place Rhino Park because the
country looks like a beautiful park studded with splendid