THE LION 



quish their prize. Shortly afterwards they were 

 romping about like two kittens, when a wagon 

 trekked past and disappeared over the brow of the 

 slope. Presently they ceased their play and made 

 off full speed after it. Their caretaker hastened 

 after them, and lo and behold ! they were meekly 

 trotting behind the wagon like a pair of dogs, evi- 

 dently having mistaken it for that of their owner. 



In the early days of South Africa the lions had a 

 luxurious, easy-going life of it, for game was then 

 plentiful. The springbucks covered the plains in their 

 hundreds of thousands, and when on the approach 

 of the dry season they were migrating northwards 

 to seek more favourable pasture grounds, the lions 

 would leisurely trot along like camp followers in the 

 rear, and dine off venison whenever they had a mind 

 to. In those days the lion fulfilled his mission in 

 life in keeping down the too rapid increase of herbiv- 

 orous animals, which otherwise would have denuded 

 the country of its vegetation. But on the advent of 

 man with his firearms, the lion was no longer needed, 

 and his extinction began, and is still proceeding. 



The pagan Romans employed considerable num- 

 bers of lions at their entertainments in the Coliseum, 

 and many thousands of Christians and pris- 

 oners of war were torn to pieces and devoured, 

 " butchered to make a Roman holiday." Records 

 show that over 50,000 lions were captured and 

 brought to Rome within a period of forty years. 

 Away back in ancient Biblical times, dens of lions 



109 



