HABITS OF THE LION, 171 



Though considerably under four feet in height, he 

 has little difficulty in dashing to the ground and over- 

 coming the lofty and apparently powerful giraffe, whose 

 head towers above the trees of the forest, and whose 

 skin is nearly an inch in thickness. The lion is the 

 constant attendant of the vast herds of buffaloes which 

 frequent the interminable forests of the interior; and a 

 fall-grown one, so long as his teeth are unbroken, gen- 

 erally proves a match for an old bull buffalo, which in 

 size and strength greatly surpasses the most powerful 

 breed of English cattle: the lion also preys on all the 

 larger varieties of the antelopes, and on both varieties 

 of the gnoo. The zebra, which is met with in large 

 herds throughout the interior, is also a favorite object 

 of his pursuit. 



Lions do not refuse, as has been asserted, to feast 

 upon the venison that they have not killed themselves. 

 I have repeatedly discovered lions of all ages which had 

 taken possession of, and were feasting upon, the car- 

 casses of various game quadrupeds which had fallen 

 before my rifle. The lion is very generally diffused 

 throughout the secluded parts of Southern Africa. He 

 is, however, nowhere met with in great abundance, it 

 being very rare to find more than three, or even two, 

 families of lions frequenting the same district and drink- 

 ing at the same fountain. When a greater number 

 were met with, I remarked that it was owing to long- 

 protracted droughts, which, by drying nearly all the 

 fountains, had compelled the game of various districts 

 to crowd the remaining springs, and the lions, accord- 

 ing to their custom, followed in the wake. It is a 

 common thing to come upon a full-grown lion and lioi 

 ess associating with three or four large ones nearly ful, 

 grown ; at other times, full-grown males will be found 



