624 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



legged lioness is not incapable of doing mischief, and so William 

 thought, for at only a few paces he administered the coup de grace, 

 aimed in the region of the ear, which put a favorable termination to 

 a short but very exciting scene. 



My new acquaintances, I learned, were herdsmen of Lubengulo, 

 King of the ^latebeles, who, when driving their cattle up, to kraal 

 them for the night, disturbed a lioness ; a Bushman who was with 

 them fired at her a poisoned arrrow, which, it was believed, had 

 taken effect. As a scratch from one of these pygmy weapons is al- 

 most certain to produce death in a few hours, my new friends had 

 gone at break of day to search for their anticipated prey, but, losing 

 the trail and making sundry efforts to regain it, they unexpectedly 

 discovered the youngsters in a hole scooped in the bank of a dry 

 water-course, which thev at once secured. 



Fortunatelv, thev encountered us when thev did, or Jtfadamc la 

 S\ftre would have made them regret their temeritv. On examining 

 the lioness, no indication that she had been struck bv the arrow of 

 the Bushman was to be seen ; either the bowman had missed her or 

 this was not the animal he had shot at. A couple of pounds of gun- 

 powder and four bars of lead were treasures too valuable for natives 

 to refuse, so Leo and Juno became my property. The herdsmen, not 

 satisfied with the discovery that the killed lioness was not wounded 

 with the Bushman's arrow, renewed their search, and in the course of 

 the day, on their return to their kraals, passed my encampment bear- 

 ing a newly taken hide, satisfactory evidence of the rapid and fearful 

 certainty of the virus with which they anoint the points of their di- 

 minutive weapons. 



There are several poisons in use among the aboriginal tribes of 

 Southern Africa, but that extracted from a caterpillar, and designated 

 by the natives " mangue," is the most fatal. The pain which the 

 victims suffer who have been inoculated with it must be fearful in- 

 deed ; but it is not long endured, for two or three hours generally 

 put an end to the stricken animal's existence. Of course, this time is 

 more or less protracted by the size of the wound, the locality in which 

 it is situated, and the quantity of the venom used ; for instance, on 

 one of the tributaries of the Zambesi, a lioness that had been wounded 

 at sundown did not expire till the following daybreak, during all which 

 time the cries of anguish that she kept repeating, terribly told how fear- 

 fully the poor creature was suffering. On examination, this victim of 

 the poisoned arrow only had a slight puncture beneath the skin close 

 to the flank, but the firmness of the hide had prevented the missile 

 from falling from the wound. 



As the habits of semi-barbarous people always possess great interest 

 for me, I trust they do so for my readers, and I will therefore describe 

 the two other poisons in use among the Bush-people, and the manner 

 in which they are employed to serve their purpose. First, I will ad- 



