192 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



latter may die of his wounds later. While in East Africa 

 we met many more men who had been badly bitten and 

 clawed by lions, but who had recovered, than we heard of 

 men who had been killed by them, or who had died of their 

 wounds. The wounds should be cauterized at once, to 

 avoid blood-poisoning, as the lion's teeth and claws often 

 seem to contain some poisonous element, perhaps minute 

 particles of dead matter. Moreover, the lion often bites 

 deep, and with closed jaws pulls the muscle loose from the 

 bone, thus causing the deep-seated tears which become 

 sources of corruption. Finally, the shock of the bite is tre- 

 mendous, the full muscular power of the great jaws being 

 brought into play. Many men die from the shock. On the 

 other hand, it so numbs them that at the moment little 

 pain is felt. We saw a dozen men who had been bitten. One, 

 on whom the lion had lain for some time while biting him, 

 had suffered much; all the others assured us that at the time 

 and for several minutes afterward they did not suffer at 

 all. The process of healing is long and painful. Most of the 

 men who die from lion wounds die from blood-poisoning 

 several days after being mauled, and not directly from the 

 mauling. 



The hunter should never go near a lion until it is dead, 

 and even when it is on the point of death he should not 

 stand near, nor approach, its head from in front; for a lion 

 at its last gasp will summon all its energies for one final 

 attack, flinging itself on the man who has thus incautiously 

 approached it, especially if it can see him, and spending its 

 last dying moments in biting him. Necessarily, lion hunt- 

 ing has elements of danger if legitimately followed; for a 

 slight deviation in aim — possible enough to any marksman 



