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Overview
"A mighty hunter." - Literary Digest, 1918
"Vividly written, very graphic descriptions... an authority on the game of the Dark Continent." - Review of Reviews, 1909
"Rainsford...spent a twelvemonth in East Africa hunting lions and cheetahs, elephants and small game...walked more than 4,000 miles...contains many interesting studies and observations of African native life." -Boston Globe, Nov. 13, 1909
"A markedly readable volume describing the author's hunting life in British East Africa." - Everybody's Magazine, 1910
Dr. Rainsford's 1909 book "The Land of the Lion " is a record of the twelve or thirteen months spent in the hunting domains of East Africa--an account of the huntsman's quest for big game and final triumphs.
After walking more than 4000 miles during a year's hunting trip in Africa, Dr. William S. Rainsford, nationally known as the former rector of St. George's Church, New York, was properly to be regarded as an authority on the game possibilities of the Dark Continent. In a vividly written volume, "The Land of the Lion," Dr. Rainsford gives some very graphic descriptions of the conditions of human and animal life in Africa. His viewpoint is that of the observant man of culture whose mind and heart are alive to even the smallest detail.
In introducing his book, Rainsford writes:
"Now, after a year's constant travel, during which I have ridden and walked more than five thousand miles, I really think I have some knowledge that is not without its value-about the country-the best place to go for certain sorts of game; the most beautiful and healthy parts of it; the sort of sefari to gather round you, and how to control and manage it.
"I have learned, too, a good deal about African hunting; how it should be done to-day, and that, I can assure my reader, even if he has hunted as I have, in a great many different places, takes care and time-African big game hunting is quite unlike any other."
In describing the Masai method of lion hunting, Rainsford notes:
"They told me positively that when their warriors were charged by a lion they always stood stock still. To move meant death, to stand quite immovable meant that before closing, the lion, if unbounded would stand, too. A missionary I knew was in this way "charged," as many would call it, by three lions, a male and two females. The lion ran up to within twelve yards, he estimated it, and on his standing firm, growled, and ran back to the lionesses. Then a lioness would go through the same most trying performance. He standing still, she, too, retired. This happened no less than four times."
In describing an elephant stampede, Rainsford writes:
"One of the cows got scent of him, and trumpeting loudly, charged. She was followed in a rush by all the rest. Tied by the thorns he could not run, even if running had been any good. Nothing remained for him but one terrible chance. He threw himself down, and the ponderous charge trampled over him ...."
In writing about an attack by enraged rhinoceros, Rainsford states:
"As he was passing through some thickish brush he was, without warning, incontinently charged by a rhino. Such an onslaught is usually made with exceeding swiftness, and though his mule swerved for its life, the cruel horns pinned him...."
Although a large portion of the book is devoted to big game hunting, the book is more than a recital of his quest for big game and final triumphs. It is also provides an interesting picture of African conditions and the life of its inhabitants.
About the author:
William Rainsford (1850 − 1933) was, prior to his African hunting exploits, the rector of St. George's Church in New York from 1882 to 1906.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781088105603 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Christopher Michael Stillie |
| Publication date: | 03/28/2023 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 378 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
Read an Excerpt
January, 1697, the plague broke out in the garrison and by July 2jd there remained but the Commandant, nine Swahili, fifty native women, and the king of a neighbouring tribe Faza. The Commandant died August 24th yet the desperate remnant somehow managed to keep the Arabs out for three weeks. A relieving fleet came in September, and 150 Portuguese soldiers and 300 Indian mercenaries were thrown into the place then the grip of the besiegers closed on it again. For fifteen months longer this almost unparalleled struggle went on, till December 12, 1698, when the Arabs at last stormed. The garrison, reduced to eleven men and two women, was too feeble to offer serious resistance, and all were slaughtered. 1699, 1703, 1710. Portuguese expeditions tried to retake Mombassa and failed. What a story of tenacity, cruelty, and courage it is! and scarcely one memorial of it save the yellow crumbling citadel, and its deep moat hewn with infinite labour from the coral rock, remains. Dense tropic tangle and the carelessness of the East have combined to wipe out almost entirely the scanty memorials of the great past even the graves of the brave dead of those old days are now lost and forgotten. Arab and Portuguese alike, no one knows where they lie. One of the most intelligent Arabs in Mombassa one too, who claims descent from the conquering Sultans who, drove the Portuguese out and for so long reigned in their stead gravely assured me that there never were any Portuguese graves as they always buried their dead at sea. He was equally ignorant as to where his own conquering ancestors, who fell before the place, lay. chapter{Section 4The Land of the Lion CHAPTER I MOMBASSA TO LION LAND THE scenery onthe Uganda railroad, between the sea and Nairobi, is o...
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I. MOMBASSA TO LION LAND
CHAPTER II. THE SEFARI
CHAPTER III. ACROSS THE MAU ESCARPMENT TO LION LAND
CHAPTER IV. MY FIRST LION
CHAPTER V. HUNTING IN AFRICA
CHAPTER VI. SEFARI LIFE
CHAPTER VII. HUNTING ELEPHANT AND RIDING LION
CHAPTER VIII. ELEPHANT
CHAPTER IX. NZOIA PLATEAU AND ITS TRIBES
CHAPTER X. GOOD-BYE SERGOIT
CHAPTER XI. FROM GILGIL TO KENIA
CHAPTER XII. SYCE'S ADVENTURE
CHAPTER XIII. A MORNING'S RIDE THROUGH RHINO COUNTRY
CHAPTER XIV. THE COUNTRY
CHAPTER XV. A PLEA FOR THE NATIVE EAST AFRICAN AND HIS MISSIONARY
CHAPTER XVI. THE LAST SEFARI