100 EXCESSIVE HEAT. 



instead of driving him to a distance, had only the effect of 

 making him the more savage.* 



Similar attempts to deprive the lion of his prej are of fre- 

 quent occurrence in the interior of Africa. Indeed, it is no 

 unusual thing to find a number of natives residing near such 

 pools of water as are frequented by antelopes, other v/ild an- 

 imals, and their constant attendant, the lion, subsisting al- 

 most altogether in this w^ay, or on carcasses which the lion 

 has not had time to devour before the return of day, when it 

 is his habit to retire to his lair. 



But it is not always that the attempt to deprive the lion 

 of his prey succeeds as well as in the instance just mention- 

 ed. Generally speaking, indeed, if he is famishing with hun- 

 ger, he turns upon his assailants, and many a man has thus 

 lost his life. One often meets with individuals, either muti- 

 lated or bearing dreadful scars, the result of wounds received 

 in such encounters. 



The heat had, by this time, become almost insupportable, 

 and it was only with great inconvenience that a person could 

 move about after the sun was a few hours above the horizon. 

 Even the cattle were dreadfully distressed. As early as 

 eight o'clock in the morning they would leave off grazing, in 

 order to seek shelter under some tree or bush against the 

 scorching rays of the sun. 



Every afternoon, regularly at two o'clock, we had a strong 

 breeze from the westward. Strange to say, however, this, 

 though coming from the sea, instead of cooling the atmos- 

 phere, only tended to increase its oppressiveness. We ex- 

 perienced precisely the same sensation as when standing be- 

 fore the mouth of a heated oven. The quicksilver rose to 

 such a height as almost to make us doubt our own eyes. 

 Even at Scheppmansdorf, which is situated less than twenty 



* I have been told that on a similar occasion to the present, a lion 

 was so injured by the flaming missiles thrown at him, that he was 

 found shortly aftei'ward dead of his wounds. 



