140 THE LION. 
Therefore it was safer and more certain to take the ox for a bait, and so, to save many a 
young and vigorous animal by the sacrifice of one old and worn-out beast.” 
“A Boer, a very humorous fellow, told me that he was returning to his waggons one 
evening, when he was far in the interior; at the time, he had with him only the single 
charge of powder with which his gun was loaded, as he had been out buck-shooting ‘all 
day. 
Straight in his path he disturbed a Lion, which jumped up and turned to look at him. 
Very naturally, his first impulse was to fire, but remembering that he had but that one 
charge in his gun, he changed his tacties. 
The Dutchmen usually wear large broad-brimmed felt hats, around which several 
ostrich feathers are fastened. The Boer jumped from his horse, and pulled off his hat, 
which he held with his teeth by the brim, so that the upper part only of his face could be 
seen above the conglomeration of feathers. He then dropped upon his hands and knees, 
and commenced crawling towards the Lion. Such a strange animal had never before been 
seen by the astonished Leeww, which turned and fled without a moment’s hesitation. 
This method of alarming animals is not alwa ays successful; for whilst I was on the 
frontier, a Hottentot, who had been told of a somewhat similar plan to frighten a savage 
ox, met with a severe accident. 
The man had been instructed that to stoop down and look back at an animal from 
between the knees was a certain means of driving it away. So, being pursued by an 
infuriated ox, he stopped short, and doubled himself up for his peep ; Dut unfortunately 
without the desired result. For the animal charged home, ripped up the Totty’s leather 
erackers, wounded him, and sent him sprawling into a bush.” 
“ AN OLD Dutch Boer, who lived under the shadow of the Draakensberg mountains, gave 
me the following account of an interview with a Lion. The man was a well-known sports- 
man, and lived principally by means of the dollars which he realized wpon ivory and skins. 
He was accustomed to make a trip each year into the game country, and traded with the 
Kaftirs or other inhabitants, under very favourable auspices. His stock-in-trade consisted of 
his guns and ammunition, several spans of fine oxen, some horses, and about a dozen dogs. 
A Lion, which appeared to have been roaming about the country, happened to pass 
near this Boer’s loc vation, and scenting the three coursers kept by the Boer, thought that 
the locality might suit him for a short period. A dense kloof, situated about a mile from 
the farm, afforded both shelter and water, and this spot the Lion selected as a favourable 
position for his head-quarters. 
The Boer had not to wait for more than a day, before the suspicions which had been 
excited in his mind by some broad footmarks which he saw imprinted in the soil, were 
confirmed into a certainty that a full-erown Lion had passed near his residence. 
It now became a question of policy, whether the Boer should attack the Lion, or wait 
for the Lion to attack him. He thought it quite possible, that Leewr, having been warned 
off by the dogs, whose barking had been furious and continued during the night on which 
the Lion was supposed to have passed the farm, might think discretion to be the better 
part of valour, and consequently would move farther on, in search of a less carefully 
guarded locality upon which to quarter himself. He determined, therefore, to wait, but to 
use every precaution against a night surprise. 
The Lion, however, was more than a match for the Boer. For during the second night, 
Roeberg, the stout after-ox of the pet span, was quietly carried off, and although there was 
some commotion amongst the dogs and cattle, it was supposed that the alarm had scared 
the Lion, which had then dec amped. ; 
The morning leht, however, showed that the poacher had leapt the palisade which 
surrounded the kraal, and having killed the ox, had evidently endeavoured to scramble 
over it again, with the ox in his possession. The joint weight of the Lion and ox had caused 
the stakes to give way, and an exit had then been easily e effected. 
The spoor of the Lion was immediately followed ‘by the Boer, who took with him 
a Hottentot and half-a-dozen of his best dogs. The traces were easily seen, and the 
hunters had no difficulty in deciding that the Lion was in the kloof. But this in itself was 
