THE LION. 99 



Hunting the lion in Africa is generally pursued 

 for the sake of destroying the animal only, without 

 any view of sport. A regular hunt, when the coun- 

 try turns out, is a complete scramble, and a mixture 

 of men of various figures and complexions ; the dogs 

 innumerable, and of every kind. Vaillant has given 

 some ludicrous pictures of the tiger- hunt, as the leo- 

 pard is here termed ; but we must have recourse 

 again to Mr Thompson's travels, from whom we 

 have borrowed so largely in this article, for an ac- 

 count of a lion-hunt, after the manner of the coun- 

 try, which he witnessed himself, and which will give 

 some idea of these encounters. 



" 1 was then residing on my farm, or location, at 

 Bavion's River, in the neighbourhood of which nu- 

 merous herds of large game, and consequently beasts 

 of prey, are abundant. One night, a lion, who had 

 previously purloined a few sheep out of the kraal, 

 came down and killed my riding-horse, about a hun- 

 dred yards from the door of my cabin. Knowing 

 that the lion, when he does not carry off his prey, 

 usually conceals himself in the vicinity, and is more- 

 over very apt to be dangerous, by prowling about 

 the place in search of more game, I resolved to have 

 him destroyed or dislodged without delay. I there- 

 fore sent a messenger round the location, to invite 

 all who were willing to assist in the foray, to repair 

 to the place of rendezvous as speedily as possible. 

 In an hour, every man of the party (with the excep- 

 tion of two pluckless fellows, who were kept at home 



