320 HUNTING AUVENTUKES. 



which, having once tasted human flesh, show a predilection foi 

 the same, and such characters are very naturally famed and 

 dreaded among the natives. Elderly gentlemen of similar tastes 

 und habits are occasionally met with among the lions in the inte- 

 rior of South Africa, and the danger of such neighbors may be 

 easily imagined. I account for lions first acquiring this taste in the 

 following manner : the Bechuana tribes of the fax interior do not 

 bury their dead, but unceremoniously carry them forth, and leave 

 them lying exposed in the forest or on the plain, a prey to the lion 

 and hyaena, or the jackal and vulture ; and I can readily imagine 

 that a lion, having thus once tasted human flesh, would have little 

 hesitation, when opportunity presented itself, of springing upon 

 and carrying off the unwary traveller or " Bechuana" inhabiting 

 his country. Be this as it may, man-eaters occur; and on my 

 fourth hunting expedition, a horrible tragedy was acted one dark 

 night in my little lonely camp by one of these formidable cha- 

 racters, which deprived me, in the far wilderness, of my most 

 valuable servant. In winding up these few observations on the 

 lion, which I trust will not have been tiresome to the reader, I 

 may remark that lion-hunting, under any circumstances, is deci- 

 dedly a dangerous pursuit. It may nevertheless be followed, to a 

 certain extent, with comparative safety by those who have natu- 

 rally a turn for that sort of thing. A recklessness of death, per- 

 fect coolness and self-possession, an acquaintance with the dispo- 

 sition and manners of lions, and a tolerable knowledge of the use 

 of the rifle, are indispensable to him who would shine in the 

 overpoweringly exciting pastime of hunting this justly celebrated 

 k >ig of beasts. , 



