CHAPTER IV 



NOTES ON THE LION (continued) 



Depredations of lions in Mashunaland — Sad death of Mr. Teale — 

 Great slaughter of pigs by a lioness — Mode of entering a cattle 

 kraal — Method of killing prey — Sharpness of lion's claws — 

 Mode of seizing a horse in motion — Lion chasing koodoos — 

 Lions lying in wait for oxen — How a lion charges — Black Jantje's 

 story — Numbing effect of lion's bite — Cruelty in nature — 

 Appearance of wild lions — Colour of eyes — Lions at bay — A 

 crouching lion — A lucky shot — The cat a lion in miniature — A 

 danger signal — Social habits of lions — Troops of lions — Lions 

 on the Mababi plain — Difference between cubs of one litter — 

 Individual differences in lions — Great variation in the develop- 

 ment of the mane — Lion probably first evolved in a cold climate 

 — Still found in Europe in the time of Herodotus — Effect of 

 cold on growth of lion's mane. 



When a previously uninhabited piece of country- 

 is invaded and settled up by a tribe of natives or by 

 Europeans, lions are always very troublesome, as they 

 look upon all the newly introduced domestic animals 

 as some new species of game specially brought into 

 the country for their benefit. 



For the first few months after Mr. Rhodes's 

 pioneers entered Mashunaland in 1890, I kept as 

 accurate an account as I could of the number of 

 horses, donkeys, oxen, sheep, goats, and pigs that 

 were killed by lions, and it soon amounted to more 

 than two hundred. During the same time two white 

 men were killed and several others severely injured 

 by lions. The saddest case was that of a young 

 man named Teale, who had come to Mashunaland 



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