XIII APPEARANCE OF WILD LIONS 269 



before it was skinned, even without making any 

 allowance for the mane. A lion shot one night in 

 the cattle-kraal at Tati by Messrs. Brown and Doby 

 in 1877, by the light of a lantern, weighed 376 lbs. 

 My friend Brown told me that although it was a 

 large lion it was in very low condition. The pegged- 

 out skins of nine lionesses shot by myself measured 

 from 8 feet 10 inches to 9 feet 7 inches. 



It has always appeared to me that the word 

 '^majestic" is singularly inapplicable to the lion in its 

 wild state, as when seen by daylight he always has a 

 stealthy, furtive look that entirely does away with the 

 idea of majesty. To look majestic a lion should 

 hold his head high. This he seldom does. When 

 walking he holds it low, lower than the line of his 

 back, and it is only when he first becomes aware of 

 the presence of man that he sometimes raises his head 

 and takes a look at the intruder, usually lowering it 

 immediately, and trotting away with a growl. When 

 at bay, standing with open mouth and glaring eyes, 

 holding his head low between his shoulders, and 

 keeping up a continuous low growling, twitching his 

 tail the while from side to side, no animal can look 

 more unpleasant than a lion ; but there is even then 

 nothing majestic or noble in his appearance. When 

 a lion jerks his tail two or three times in quick 

 succession straight into the air, look out, for such 

 a demonstration is almost always followed by a 

 charge, though this preliminary is not always gone 

 through betore charging. From my own observa- 

 tion, I should say that lionesses usually give birth 

 to three cubs ; but, from some cause or other, many 

 appear to die when very young. In the interior 

 of South Africa one more commonly meets with 

 four or five lions consorting together than with 



