BOLDNESS OF A LION AND LIONESS. 225 



passable barrier. It was a wild and lonely glen, hith- 

 erto untrodden save by the wild denizens of the forests, 

 which from time immemorial had roamed these soli 

 tudes. Large stones and masses of granite rock ob- 

 structed our progress, and several hours were occupied 

 in rolling these to one side before we could venture to 

 bring on the wagons. 



The next morning was cold and windy, and I lay 

 in my wagon longer than usual. My Hottentots had 

 thought proper to leave their charge, and go in quest 

 of honey under the guidance of a garrulous honey-bird. 

 I had lain about twenty minutes in my wagon after 

 they had all started, and was occupied in reading a 

 book, when suddenly I heard the oxen come trotting 

 along in front of the wagons, as if sharply driven. On 

 raising my head from my pillow, I perceived a lioness 

 following within twenty yards of them, and next mo- 

 ment her mate, a venerable-looking lion, with a shag- 

 gy mane which swept the ground, appeared in the yel- 

 low grass in front of the oxen, waiting for her to put 

 them to flight. The plot had evidently been precon- 

 certed between them, this being the usual manner in 

 which the lion attacks the buffaloes. Fortunately, the 

 oxen would not run for them, and the lions seemed 

 surprised at the confidence of their game. On spring- 

 ing to my feet and shouting to them, they joined one 

 another, and stood together beneath a shady tree with- 

 in a hundred and twenty yards of the wagons. My 

 horses were pasturing at a short distance from the li- 

 ons, feeding toward me, and on these they seemed now 

 to meditate an attack, their attention being divided be- 

 tween the horses and myself. In such a position of 

 affairs, I considered it high time to give these bold in- 

 truders a hint whose cattle they were so rari'fully herd- 



K2 



