OFF FOR THE SOTIK DISTRICT. 325 



furiously in the direction of Colonel Roosevelt, seeking to get near 

 enough to spring. Colonel Roosevelt had just time to seize a rifle 

 from one of the gun bearers and fire one quick shot. 



But that shot vas enough. The great beast stopped and sank 

 dead in the jungle grass. Colonel Roosevelt's bullet had struck it 

 full in the chest, piercing its heart, and thus again his rare skill as 

 a marksman had saved his life. 



The gun bearers declared it was the narrowest call the ex- 

 President has yet had, and all v.ere loud in their praise of his marks- 

 manship. The lion w^as the finest specimen yet killed on the African 

 hunt. It was a black maned male beast, and African hunters declare 

 it had one of the most beautiful manes and skins ever captured. 

 The taxidermists from the Smithsonian Institute were elated over 

 the kill, as the skin will make a rare addition to their already 

 splendid collection. 



THE LION THE KING OF BEASTS. 



This magnificent and noble creature of which several species 

 are claimed to exist, although it is thought by many experienced 

 judges that there is really but one species, which is modified into 

 permanent varieties- according to the country in which it lives, is 

 properly esteemed as the king of beasts. 



The best known of these species or varieties is the South 

 African lion, of \\'hom many anecdotes have been narrated. This 

 noble animal is found in nearly all parts of Southern Africa, where 

 the foot of civilized man has not stayed its wanderings. Before the 

 tread of the v/hite man, the lion shrinks unwillingly, haunting each 

 advanced post for a time, but driven surely and slowly backward 

 as the human intellect gains opportunity for manifesting its 

 supremacy over the lower animals. So entirely does man sweep 

 the wild beasts from his presence, that even in the Cape colony a 

 living lion is just as great a rarity as in England or America, and 

 there are very few who have ever beheld a living lion except when 

 pent in a cage. 



The color of the lion is a tawny yellow, lighter on the under 

 parts of the body, and darker above. The ears are blackish, and the 



