LION 



421 



myself have seen a party of about fifteen to the north-east of Mount 

 Kenia. Many of the Hons are maneless or have insignificant manes, 

 but there are also fine maned specimens to be found. Whether local 

 conditions — such as elevation and climate — have anything to do with 

 this difference, or whether it is merely individual, I am unable to 

 decide ; but it seems to be the case that while maneless lions are 

 commonly small, the full-maned specimens are much finer animals. 

 In East Africa man-eating lions seem commoner and more troublesome 

 than in any other part of the continent, and rival in their destructiveness 



Fig. 89. — Head of a North Somali Lioness, photographed liy Lord Delaniere. 



the man-eating tigers of India. The reason of this is, I think, not 

 difficult to explain. In South Africa, so soon as a lion takes to preying 

 even on the cattle of the natives, let alone on the natives themselves, the 

 whole male population of the neighbourhood turns out and hunts him 

 down. Zulus, Swazis, and kindred tribes were accustomed to do this 

 with their spears long before fire-arms came into their hands ; and 

 consequently the predatory habit, when turned in this direction, was 

 nipped in the bud. Many of the tribes of Central Africa are, on the 

 other hand, either more timid, or, being few and scattered, lack the 

 cohesion necessary to initiate such a stamping-out policy. Hence the 



