272 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



to do, much less of springing over a high fence with 

 one. The fact that one does not hear of regular 

 man-eating lions, that for a long period have been 

 constantly in the habit of preying upon human beings, 

 as is the case with tigers in India, is due, I fancy, 

 not to the difference in the nature of the animals, but 

 to the superior boldness of the African natives over 

 those of India, for even amongst the least martial 

 tribes of South Africa, if two or three people are 

 killed by a lion, the population of the surrounciing 

 country is roused, and a party being formed, the lion 

 is usually surrounded and stabbed to death with 

 assegais ; whilst, amongst such warlike tribes as the 

 Matabele, if a lion only kills an ox, or even a goat, 

 its fate is usually sealed, or even if not killed, it gets 

 such a scare that it is glad to quit the district. Such 

 a thing as a man-eater, or even an habitual cattle- 

 slayer, would never be tolerated for an instant. 

 Nevertheless, many natives are killed every year in 

 those parts of the country where lions are plentiful. 

 In 1875, five lions came up the Inquisi river, and 

 killed four Matabele women working in their maize- 

 fields not far from the town. The next day the 

 whole male population turned out, and following up 

 the lions killed four of them, one making good its 

 escape. In 1876, a Kafir boy who was herding my 

 friend Mr. Brown's goats at Tati was seized, killed, 

 and eaten by a lioness, as he was returning home with 

 his charge one afternoon, and when only a few 

 hundred yards from and within sight of the houses. 

 The next day my friend and all the whites who were 

 then at Tati turned out and hunted up the lioness. 

 She was found close to where she had killed the boy, 

 and shot by Hendrick Viljoen (a son of old Jan 

 Viljoen). The teeth of this lioness were worn down 



