The Lion 



131 



while I crept forward towards the sound, which was 

 repeated. A loud roar, accompanied by a rush in the 

 jungle, showed us a glimpse of the lion as he bounded 

 off within ten or twelve yards, but I had no chance 

 to fire. Again the low growl was repeater], and upon 

 quietly creeping towards the spot, I saw a splendid ani- 

 mal crouched upon the ground, among the withered and 

 broken grass. The lioness lay dying from the bullet 

 wound in her shoulder. Occasionally in her rage she 

 bit her own paw violently, and then struck and clawed the 

 ground. A pool of blood was by her side. She was 

 about ten yards from us, and I instructed my men to 

 throw a clod of earth at her (there were no stones), to 

 prove whether she could rise, while I stood ready with the 

 rifle. She merely replied with a dull roar, and I ended 

 her misery with a ball through the head." 



"Lions," says Andersson, "if captured when quite 

 young, and treated with kindness, become readily domes- 

 ticated, and greatly attached to their owners, whom they 

 follow about like dogs." This statement is hardly worthy 

 of its author, and the fact that these beasts are often kept 

 in African villages, and made pets of by Asiatic rulers, 

 does not at all warrant his sweeping assertion. He knew 

 better than to suppose that a young wild beast did not 

 inherit the traits of its ancestors, or that one cub was the 

 same as another. Likewise there is no reason to doubt 

 that he was acquainted with the incidents which con- 

 stantly attend such experiments in the places mentioned. 

 All this has already been discussed, but the lion's place in 

 the opinions of those who live in tlic same land with him. 



