THE LION 375 



attacked him personally ; and he believes that there are some lions which will 

 always make unprovoked attacks. This view he supports by an account of an 

 attack made upon three natives in Eastern Africa. The three natives in question 

 were passing along the edge of a certain lagoon, "when, without further warning 

 than a slight rustle, a lion sprang upon the foremost, crushing him to the ground. 

 His terrified comrades, throwing away the chance of shooting the brute while it 

 was still upon its first victim and its eyes probably closed, rushed to the nearest 

 trees for safety, but, once there, feeling ashamed of their cowardly desertion of an 

 old companion', they descended, and walking forward together were just on the 

 point of firing, when, with a roar that almost deprived them of the power to run, 

 the lion charged, caught the hindmost, and after shaking him for a second or two 

 gave chase to the other, who, however, had profited by the time to remove himself, 

 by a bare foot or so, out of reach of the spring the enraged animal gave as it saw 

 that one had so far escaped. It then returned to its last victim, not yet dead, took 

 him up in its mouth, dropped him, tossed him from paw to paw as a cat does a 

 mouse, and at last, as if wearied by so much unaccustomed gentleness, it allowed its 

 savage nature to gain the mastery, and with one crunch of its powerful jaw put 

 him out of his pain." The sole survivor of this tragedy, after having been besieged 

 for hours in a tree, during which he had a hairbreadth escape when descending to 

 reach his gun, finally had the satisfaction of putting a bullet through the ribs of 

 the lion. 



With regard to the dangers of lion hunting in Africa, which is mostly con- 

 ducted on foot, those who have had the most experience, and are therefore the best 

 entitled to speak with authority, are in accord as to their reality. Gordon Gum- 

 ming says that lion hunting, under any circumstances, must of necessity be a 

 dangerous pursuit ; but that it may be followed to a certain extent with comparative 

 immunity from harm by those who have the necessary nerve, and coolness, coupled 

 with sufficient knowledge of the habits of the animals. Mr. Selous, writing in 

 1 88 1, when sixteen lions had fallen to his rifle, considers the lion a far more dan- 

 gerous animal to encounter than any other creature in South Africa. It is true, 

 indeed, that a much greater number of casualties occur from buff alo_ shooting than 

 in lion hunting, but then as Mr. Selous is careful to observe, for every lion that has 

 of late years been "bagged" in the interior of South Africa, at least fifty buffaloes 

 have been laid low. As a general rule, according to the same authority, the danger 

 is reduced to a minimum when hunting with dogs, as the lion's attention is generally 

 concentrated on his canine foes ; but even then it sometimes happens that he will 

 dash straight through them to attack the hunter. A mounted hunter, except when 

 the movements of his horse are impeded by thick forest or by yielding sand, can 

 generally escape when pursued, as, in the opinion of Mr. Selous, the pace of the 

 average lion is not sufficient to enable him to overtake the average horse. "If, 

 however, on foot," adds Mr. Selous, "and without dogs, though there is little 

 danger in attacking lions in the first instance, yet to follow up a wounded one is 

 very ticklish work, especially in long grass, or thick cover, for there is probably no 

 animal of its size in the world that can conceal itself behind so slight a screen, or 

 rush upon its pursuer with such lightning-like rapidity. ' ' 



