58 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



until the lion is close on them. Then there is a moment of wild terror and panic as 

 they rush away. Once out of reach, the fright quickly leaves them, their flanks soon 

 stop heaving, and they return again to their grazing as if nothing had happened. 



Many people must have witnessed similar momentary terror on the part of a 

 newly caged bird when suddenly approached. It flutters and cries, and throws 

 itself against the bars in a frenzy of fright. Retire from it, and in a few seconds 

 it is perfectly self-possessed and calm again. 



The native, accustomed to hear the lion's roar, feels no fright. The white man, 

 on the contrary, who is full of nerves and imagination, feels decidedly uncomfortable, 

 though the danger is really distant and unreal. When the danger is actually at hand 

 it is the black man, callous and self-possessed until then, who is all screams and panic- 

 stricken, whilst the white man is, to his own astonishment, cool and self-possessed. 

 1 do not here refer to such black fighting tribes as the Zulu, Masai, or Sudi, whose 

 courage in a like emergency is probably considerably greater than that of the average 

 European. I mean the ordinary Africans one has to make use of as porters, 

 hangers-on, etc., when on trek. Such men as these show wild consternation for 

 their own safety, and will leave a comrade in the lurch or let him die of wounds, 

 starvation, or thirst, with the utmost sangfroid. 



The extraordinary neglect of the simplest precautionary measures exhibited by 

 the plain-dwelling animals will be referred to in other places. 1 have often 

 wondered how they can have existed for so long and gained nothing by 

 experience. The only feasible explanation which offers itself to me, my 

 readers will probably think highly ridiculous, but it is that it is to the plain- 

 dwellers' advantage to let the lion catch his night's food quickly and without 

 trouble. 



The lion at present has a very soft time of it on the plains, and has to display 

 but little skill to obtain as much food as he wants. Should his prey gain a little 

 in intelligence he then must show a little more guile, and obtain his prey by 

 taking more trouble. The more trouble the lion has to secure his food the longer 

 will the hunt last and the hungrier will be the lion. If game ran all over the plain 

 to avoid the lion they would always have a disturbed night and but little grazing. 

 As it is, they set to work to graze peacefully as if nothing untoward could happen, 

 there is one brief rush and a scuffle during the night, and they all return to grazing 

 again. It may seem a very absurd idea, but it is equally absurd that game should 

 have been living on the same plains as lions for untold ages and have learnt 

 practically no caution from past experience. 



There is another point about lion and other game that bears on the relations 



