The Lion. 5 



the creature only waited the approach of night to make 

 him his prey, began to consider what was the best mode 

 of providing for his safety, and at length adopted the 

 following : Observing a piece of broken ground with a 

 precipitate descent on one side, he sat down by the edge 

 of it; and found, to his great joy, that the Lion also 

 made a halt, and kept at a distance behind him. As 

 soon as it grew dark, the man, sliding gently forward, 

 let himself down a little below the edge of the steep, 

 and held up his cloak and hat on his stick, at the same 

 time gently moving them backward and forward. The 

 Lion, after a while, came creeping towards the object ; 

 and mistaking the cloak for the man himself, made a 

 spring at it, and fell headlong down the precipice. 



Many interesting anecdotes of Lions and Lion-hunt- 

 ing may be found in the accounts of their travels 

 published by Gordon Gumming, Andersson, and Dr. 

 Livingstone. From the latter we may extract the fol- 

 lowing account of an escape literally from the very jaws 

 of death: "Being about thirty yards off," says the 

 doctor, " I took a good aim at his body through the 

 bush, and fired both barrels into it. The men then 

 called out, ' He is shot, he is shot !' Others cried, * He 

 has been shot by another man too ; let us go to him !' 

 ] did not see any one else shoot at him, but I saw the 

 Lion's tail erected in anger behind the bush, and turn- 

 ing to the people, said, * Stop a little till I load again.' 

 When in the act of ramming down the bullets I heard a 

 shout. Starting and looking half round, I saw the Lion 

 just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a 

 little height ; he caught my shoulder as he sprang, and 

 we both came to the ground below together. Growling 

 horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier-dog 

 does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to 

 that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first 

 shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in 

 which there was no sense of pain nor feeling of terror, 

 though quite conscious of all that was happening. It 

 was like what patients partially under the influence of 

 chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but feel 

 not the knife. This singular condition was not the 



