37 6 THE CARNIVORES 



Stil more impressive are the words of Mr. Drummond, who says that "it 

 should always be recollected, before meddling with lions, that if you do come to 

 close quarters with them, death is the probable result. There are cases within my 

 own knowledge," continues this writer, "where, single-handed and armed only with 

 a spear, a native has succeeded in killing one that has sprung upon him, without 

 receiving in return anything but trifling injuries ; but these are only exceptions 

 that prove the rule that when they strike they kill. . . . It is a grand sight to 

 see one charge a native regiment sent out after it, as they sometimes are, springing 

 over the heads of the first line right into the centre, flying about, knocking men 

 down with every blow, until, a complete sieve of assegai wounds, it dies fight- 

 ing." 



Sir Samuel Baker follows suit in contrasting the dangers of the solitary hunter 

 on foot engaged in lion shooting in Africa, with tiger shooting in India, either from 

 elephants, or with a number of guns posted in secure positions. 



Writing of his experiences in Somaliland, Mr. J. D. Inverarity observes that the 

 lion tries to avoid man until wounded, and it is only in exceptional cases of there 

 being young ones to guard, or from astonishment at seeing the hunter so close to 

 them, that they charge when being tracked. They charge with the same coughing 

 roar that a tiger does, and come at great speed close to the ground, not bounding in 

 the air as they are represented in pictures. Their ears are pressed close to the head, 

 giving them the comical appearance of being without ears. ' ' So large an animal 

 coming at full speed against you of course knocks you off you legs. The claws and 

 teeth entering the flesh do not hurt so much as you would think. The only really 

 painful part of the business is the squeeze given by the jaws on the bone. I felt 

 none of the dreamy stupor Livingstone describes, but, on the contrary, felt as usual. 

 I adopted the course of lying quite still, which, I believe, is the best thing one can 

 do, as you are quite helpless with a heavy animal on you, and they are inclined to- 

 make grabs at everything that moves, and the fewer bites you can get off with the 

 better." Stories of lion hunting are legion, and if collected would form at least one 

 goodly volume ; we shall, however, refrain from quoting any, and close our notice 

 of what is, in our own opinion, the grandest of all Carnivores, with the following 

 extract from Mr. Drummond's interesting book, upon which we have already drawn 

 so largely. " Perhaps the most beautiful sight that I ever saw in connection with 

 lions," writes Mr. Drummond, "was on a morning 'when I had gone out to hunt 

 with one bearer at dawn. I had gone far from camp, and, most carelessly, my gun 

 was still unloaded, while I was examining some buffalo spoors, when, on looking 

 up, I saw my gun bearer, who had my cartridges, running away at full speed. 

 Knowing that he must have seen something to frighten him so, I did not shout, but 

 went to where he had been standing a few yards ahead, and there, sure enough, not 

 twenty yards off, were a pair of lions. They were both full grown, and the male 

 had an immense mane, and formed altogether as handsome a pair as I ever saw. 

 The lioness was rolling on her back, playfully striking at her lord and master with 

 her fore-paws just like a kitten, while he stood gravely and majestically looking 

 on." 



