172 



MAMMALIA— LION. 



two fires, which confused his attention and prevented his retreat, wc Kept 

 battering away at him till he fell, unable again to grapple with us, pierced 

 with many wounds. 



"He proved to be a full grown lion of the yellow variety, about five or 

 six years of age. He measured nearly twelve feet from the nose to the tip 

 of the tail. His fore leg, below the knee, was so thick that I could not span 

 it with both hands ; and his neck, breast, and limbs appeared, when the 

 skin was taken olf, a complete congeries of sinews." 



Major Denham furnishes us with the following anecdote: "The skin of a 

 noble lion was sent me by the sheikh, which had been taken near Kabshary, 

 measuring from the tail to the nose fourteen feet two inches. He had devour- 

 ed four slaves, and was at last taken by the following stratagem ; the inha- 

 bitants assembled together, and, with loud cries and noises, drove him from 

 the place where he had last feasted ; they then dug a very deep blaque, or 

 circular hole, armed with sharp pointed stakes ; this they most cunningly 

 covered over with stalks of the gussub ; a bundle of straw, enveloped in a 

 robe, was laid over the spot, to which a gentle motion, like that of a man 

 turning in sleep, was occasionally given by means of a line carried to 

 some distance. On their quitting the spot, and the noise ceasing, the lion 

 returned to his haunt, and was observed watching his trap for seven or eight 



■lours — by degrees approaching closer and closer, — and at length he made 

 a dreadful spring on his supposed prey, and was precipitated to the bottom 

 of the pit. The Kabsharians now rushed to the spot, and before he could 

 recover himself, despatched him with their spears." 



It has been remarked of the lion, by the Bushmen, that he generally kills 

 and devours his prey in the morning at sunrise, or sunset. On this account, 

 when they intend to kill lions, they generally notice where the spring-bucKs 



