MAMMALIA OF SOMALI LAND. 475 



time, the reason being that the flocks and herds arc all secured within 

 :i zereba at night. All the natural kills I heard of were in the day- 

 time. Ties up, when killed, were of course killed in the night. 

 They will eat any dead animal whether killed by themselves or 

 not. Lions sometimes leap over the high thorn hedges within 

 which the Somalis have their encampments and kill an animal, or 

 several, inside: in such cases they eat where they kill, and cannot 

 leap out again with their prey. There are a number of man-eaters. 

 I shot one that a short time before had leapt into a zereba and 

 killed and eaten a man inside. I saw the man's garment bloody and 

 full of holes on the hedge of the zereba when I got there. The 

 Somalis told me they frequently take men out of a zereba at 

 night. I found the remains of a porcupine inside a lioness I shot 

 that she had eaten the night before. She had swallowed the feet 

 whole and also a lot of the quills. The habit of swallowing the feet 

 whole is a common one with the Felidce. Lions drink pretty regularly 

 in the hills where there is water, but they are able to go for months 

 without drinking water. This is incredible to those who know how 

 necessary water is for the existence of tigers and panthers ; but, that 

 it is so, I have no doubt. I have shot them 30 miles from any water ; 

 and tracts of country which they inhabit are waterless for many 

 months of the year. They charge with the same coughing roar that 

 a tiger does, and come at great speed close to the ground, not bounding 

 in the air as you see in pictures ; their ears are pressed close to the 

 head, giving them the comical appearance of being without ears. So 

 large an animal coming at full speed against you of course knocks 

 you off your legs. The claws and teeth entering the flesh do not hurt 

 so much as you would think. The only really painful part of the 

 business is the squeeze given by the jaws on the bone. I felt none 

 of .the dreamy stupor Livingstone describes, but, on the contrary, felt 

 as usual. I adopted the course of lying quite still, which, I believe? 

 is the best thing one can do, as you are quite helpless with a heavy 

 animal on you, and they are inclined to make grabs at everything 

 that moves, and the fewer bites you can get off with the better 

 All the wounds are centres of inflammation and blood-poisoning, and 

 the more you get the less chance you have. The power of the lion's 

 jaw may be inferred from the fact that the lioness that seized me, 



