THE LION. 93 



tunity, and, seizing upon some straggler, carries it 

 to his place of repose, and devours it at leisure. 

 But impelled by the cravinf " of hunger, which the 

 scarcity of wild animals, and the care of the colo 

 nists sometimes force him to endure, he becomes a 

 very different animal : his cunning becomes daring, 

 no barrier will withstand him he rushes with re- 

 sistless fury upon the object of his attack a bullock 

 is torn from the team, or a horse from the shafts 

 and even man is dragged from the watch-fires, sur- 

 rounded by his companions and powerful fire-arms. 

 Perseverance in watching, and in retaining his 

 prey when seized, are other characteristics of the 

 lion. An instance of the latter is related in the 

 Journal of the Landdrost Jah. Sterneberg, kept in 

 his journey to the Namaqua Hottentots. We have 

 taken it from Phillips's Researches in South Africa : 

 " The waggons and cattle had been put up for the 

 night, when, about midnight, they got into complete 

 confusion. About thirty paces from the tent stood 

 a lion, which, on seeing us, walked very deliberately 

 about thirty paces farther behind a small thorn bush, 

 carrying something with him which I took to be a 

 young ox. We fired more than sixty shots at the 

 bush. The south-east wind blew strong, the sky 

 was clear, and the moon shone very bright, so that 

 we could perceive any thing at a short distance. 

 After the cattle had been quieted again, and I had 

 looked over every thing, I missed the sentry from 

 before the tent. We called as loudly as possible, 



